Ig Nobels 2012: Physics of ponytails, chimp arse-cognition and more The butt-loving tendencies of chimpanzees have won this year's Anatomical Ig Nobel for researchers who found that monkeys can recognise each other from pictures of each other's arses. Frans de Waal of The Netherlands and US boffin Jennifer Pokorny came along to the ceremony to lift their prize for their paper on chimps' sex …
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I like that fact that they have perfectly pitched the "yes researchers, it's real science but, hey, even you have to admit, it's pretty odd/funny/weird" attitude. And I think that comes across (mostly) to the general public - who might laugh but then think "hmm, actually, that is a kind of useful thing to know" - and also to the researchers who (mostly) turn up and accept the awards with good humour.
It is part of the true spirit of boffinry!
..........consider that this:
"....can recognise each other from pictures of each other's arses."
.......is of the first importance. Maybe there should be an app for that instead of face recognition!
... Google Goggles, linking arse to contacts, locations, hobbies etc. If no match is possible, Goggles will show images of similar arses as an alternative. Must remember to not mix up Nicki Minaj with Kenny Everett's Rod Stewart sketch...
Later to be followed by a feature to recognize the back of someone's head; "GoogleBoH: because Google never forgets the back of someone's head"...
"Acoustics Prize: Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada [JAPAN] for creating the SpeechJammer — a machine that disrupts a person's speech, by making them hear their own spoken words at a very slight delay."
My cell provider has one of these that they, apparently, turn on randomly during my calls. Our conference line provider has one too...
/sarc
True. It's a recurring theme of both launch vehicle tanks and propellant tanks in spinning satellites.
*However* this is usually a concern when the tank is emptying, say 25% full and below, and the tanks have a top on.
Beverage cup sloshing is more likely to be a problem with a nearly full tank (cup) which can have a wide range of depth to diameter ratios, possibly bringing in effects of the shape of the base of the inside of the cup.
Yes I probably need to get out more. ....
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_auditory_feedback
QI demonstrated this recently, which was particularly good viewing.
Stephen Fry was busy explaining the principle while they primed Alan Davies with a challenge to read something out ... only he wasn't fazed at all. Different panellists were affected by varying degrees.
Good point JL115. The more common uses for DAF are for beneficial purposes - like helping people who have problems with stuttering.
The wrong (or right depending on your intent) delay inducing stress on the speaker is also a well established observation.
I guess, the more I think about it, the more I'm surprised it has taken this long to be weaponized for malicious use. Makes me wonder what other types of "glitches" could be misused like this...
Having had this happen many times on various calls by some weird fluke of connection, I can assure you it makes it damn near impossible to get out more than a few words at a time. It's extremely frustrating.
The more I think about it... there could be an App for that. It could have a little STFU button that you could turn on to do a delayed playback onto whatever call you're on whenever your "victim" is talking. Oh wow... that's BOFH territory.
Back when I were but a wee lad working in BBC News as a technical assistant, we used to audition newsreaders from time to time, and one of the tests was to see how long they lasted before tripping up over their own tongue when we replayed the output of just recorded tape (the difference between the record and replay head was perhaps half an inch - a fifteenth of a second at 7.5ips).
As I recall, only the likes of Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall could survive this assault on the senses...
Neuroscience Prize: Craig Bennett, Abigail Baird, Michael Miller, and George Wolford [USA], for demonstrating that brain researchers, by using complicated instruments and simple statistics, can see meaningful brain activity anywhere — even in a dead salmon.
I'm Pretty sure Scientologists discovered an instrument for doing this years ago.
Literature Prize: The US Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports.
I dont get it. With my usual govt. clients, it's everyday work for many departments. Maybe I should send their candidature for next year.
(got to love Kanuckistan)
Anon, of course... still need work...
While on a placement for the MoD my line manager was a lady who obviously had some sort of (I'm struggling for terminology here) thing whereby when you spoke to her, she voiced back to you every single word of what you said in a kind of mumble about half a second after you started speaking. She was quite intelligent (IT bod) but it made reporting anything to her almost impossible because when she started mumbling you thought she was interrupting you and so you stopped to listen. Then she stopped. So you started again, and then she started again. etc You just had to sort of grit your. teeth and keep going until you had finished. Essentially you had to break a normal social etiquette of allowing somebody else to speak on a continual basis. Quite wearing.
Here in the UK we've used copper for piping and storing hot water for decades but I've never heard of this effect before.
Ditto the 'States, though around here you're lucky if your house doesn't get broken into while you're out and your copper pipes stolen for scrap. (My painter/plasterer wanted to do a faux copper finish on my gutters, and I vetoed it on the grounds that some idiot would steal them, thinking they were real copper gutters.)
I haven't looked into this study, but my guess is that trace contaminants in the water played a role. Either it was sufficiently acidic to strip copper atoms from the interior of the pipe, or there were similar ionic reactions, or something along those lines. Perhaps if there are enough metallic ions in the water the pipes could lose a significant amount of copper to galvanic corrosion? (I admit my high-school chemistry has faded.)
Copper ions are water-soluble, and you always get some dissolved copper in water that flows across copper surfaces - that's why copper roofing strips suppress fungal growth on the rest of the roof, for example.
Well earned methinks. "chimp's arse ID " indeed. LOL!
I'd have nominated Obama for the Ig Nobel Peace prize, for failing to get rid of nuclear weapons as he originally promised wayback when.
Apologies to any 'merkins on here, but isn't the Nobel awarded for actual results, not promising to do something then failing to carry it out?
AC/DC 21/21/2012
is actually quite useful from a 3d modelling perspective.
As one of my hobbies is the use of 3D modelling software (notably DAZ Studio and Cinema 4D) to model and create *ahem* erotic imagery, making my virtual temptresses look and move as realistically as possible is paramount. A couple of my "girls" have ponytails, which will no doubt benefit from these Ig Nobel winners' good work!
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