Humor

Does wearing makeup increase waitress’ tips? Researchers at the Université de Bretagne Sud, and the Université du Maine, France, recently performed a field experiment (with two waitresses) to find out. Two hundred and seventy-four restaurant customers (186 males and 98 females) were randomly assigned into two groups. One group was attended by waitresses who were wearing makeup: “In the makeup condition, the beautician applied makeup to the eyes, cheeks and lips in a way that enhanced the attractiveness of each waitress.” The other group were also served by the same two waitresses – but this…

What are the survival prospects for female characters in the James Bond movies? A new research project from Cleveland State University and Kent State University performed a quantitative content analysis for 195 female characters in 20 out of the 22 Bond films – uncovering in the process some clearcut predictors of their survivability. “End-of-film mortality is predicted by sexual activity, ethical status (good vs. bad), and attempting to kill Bond.“ The research 'Shaken and Stirred: A Content Analysis of Women’s Portrayals in James Bond Films' can be found here

The Polywater debacle has been called ‘one of the most famous mistaken scientific research programs of the past half-century’. It was initially feared that the USSR’s discovery of highly viscous polywater, which froze at −40 °C  and boiled at 150 °C, might spell the end for all life on Earth. If it escaped from the lab, perhaps all water on the planet might spontaneously polymerise? It took around six years and a swathe of experiments for the global science community to able to finally confirm that (thankfully) it didn’t exist – by which time it had been mentioned in numerous research…

A research team from the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria, Canada, have, for the first time, investigated the  behavioural responses of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to the asymmetric tail-wag of a life-sized robotic-dog model – one which was configured to wag its tail, either to the right or to the left, at around 2.5Hz. The new experiment compliments and extends earlier studies which have consistently demonstrated that dogs wag their tails asymmetrically depending on their motivational state.(Example here). They tend to wag to the left when faced with an…

There are two ways to determine the height of the tallest possible running, breathing organism on planet Earth – one is to measure it – the other to calculate it from scratch. The groundwork for the calculation was performed in the 1980’s by Professor W.H. Press and colleagues. But now Professor Don Page from the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta has recomputed the estimate … using the Bohr radius multiplied by the three-tenths power of the ratio of the electrical to gravitational forces between two protons. The professor explains - “My new estimate gives a height of about 3.…

Mongolian Gerbil psychoacoustics have been under investigation for several years now - particularly by Dr. Joan Sinnott, Endowed Professor of Research at the  Psychology Department, University of South Alabama, US. And now, for the first time (?) an experiment has quantified gerbils’ ability to recognise vowel sounds in human speech. The study finds that “Gerbils easily learn to differentiate the spectrally-dissimilar vowels /u/ versus /i/ …“ And, with suitable training, gerbils can even differentiate between similar-sounding vowels such as /a/ versus /ae/. See : A vowel…

Copyright Infringement and International Law What with the day of action on SOPA taking up the front pages of the media, a new legal definition published by the UN has been mostly overlooked. I think it is very important that more people should realize how much a seemingly trivial change in a legal definition can affect their entire lives.  Accordingly, I am pleased to re-publish the information here - even at risk of the entire site being taken down for copyright infringement. [quote]United Nations OrganizationDivision for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea Revised definition of…

If you have not already read the hysterical Texts from Cephalopods, you must do so. Preferably somewhere that it is acceptable to shriek or snort with laughter. However, beforehand, you must prepare yourself by watching (or re-watching) the drunk octopus' YouTube channel. That was a joke; the drunk octopus doesn't have a YouTube channel (as far as I know). But if he did, it would contain all the videos linked from the titles of the text exchanges. While you're reading, look for the ones that are underlined, like Octopus Takes an Interest in Cinematography. There was only one video missing…

If you are the sort of person who enjoys the wacky creations of children--whether genuinely or ironically--then you must watch this video, found via Islands Weekly. Definitely put the sound on, because it is about a thousand times better with young Cyrus' narration: It's all festive and stuff! My favorite part is the extremely self-satisfied expression on the squid's face when he says "Yum." (I feel obligated to point out that candy canes are probably not the best bait for catching squid, and teuthoid tree decorations would get very stinky very quickly.) Happy Holidays!

Scientists spend long hours in the lab and it has effects on their biological behavior even outside the lab.  Some of these phenotypes may even be permanent. Of course PIs may view these traits specifically in their trainees as positive things. How do you know when you or a friend has been in the lab too long? Here is a list of signs (some admittedly stolen from others).  1) You are at home but start looking for gloves to put on before cooking.2) You wash your hands before going to the bathroom at home.3) You are paler than your 99-year old Aunt Sally.4) You develop pet names…