FEB 08
No offence, just boosting my O2 levels
Mammals do it, birds do it, reptiles do it, and anyone who has kept a
pet goldfish will know that they do it too.
There are many theories regarding yawning – but
there are, as yet, no proven explanations of its mechanisms. Or
its functions ( if there are any ).
There are theories however, and a new one has just been published in the journal Medical Hypotheses.
The latest idea is that yawning might mechanically stimulate the Carotid Body - a small cluster of chemoreceptors and supporting cells located near the carotid artery in the neck, involved ( amongst other things ) with regulation of blood-oxygen levels.
The new theory proposes that stimulation may encourage an extra oxygen-boost, and so lead to “ increased arousal, alertness and wakefulness “ in the yawning animal.
[ But, ummmm, doesn’t yawning often precede going to sleep ? Ed. ]
Read the full article here
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Charting Performances
The latest version of Microsoft Powerpoint ™ allows presenters to “ . . . add stunning visual effects to your diagrams and charts, including 3-D objects, shading, reflections, glows, and more. “ (source)
The question arises though – is a 3-D shaded glowing graph with realistic reflections any more meaningful ?
By an odd coincidence, two scientific studies regarding the usefulness of Powerpoint ™ were published yesterday.
One, in Organization Studies, notes thatPowerpoint ™ presentations (PPPs) are really ‘ performances ‘ :
“ PowerPoint can redefine the nature of a lecture, from the authoritative presentation of a text into a multimedia performance “
The second , in Cutlural Socilogy notes that Powerpoint ™ presentations (PPPs) are really ‘ performances ‘ ( as well ). The paper -
“ demonstrates the creativity of these `performances', based on the interplay of slides (and other aspects of this technology), speech, pointing and body formations. “
In
the meantime though, Really
Magazine has learned that several blue-chip
corporations have imposed a blanket ban on their execs making PPPs at all – after
having discovered ( over a space of two decades ) it can save time if they
don't.
؟ ؟ ؟
See an alternative viewpoint, from Edward Tufte professor emeritus of statistics, information design and interface design at Yale, and coiner of the word Chartjunk.
29 FEB 08
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The 2008 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK . . .
.
. . is imminent. This year there will be shows in Newcastle, London, and
Oxford ( and perhaps other cities too ).
From March 6-14, Ig Nobel Prize winners will confide improbable secrets to their audiences.
Among their discoveries :
• Sword swallowing and its side effects
• Country-music-induced suicide
• Problems caused by the word ' The '
• How many group photos to take so that nobody's eyes are shut.
28 FEB 08
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The Brodmann Area 10 blues.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine have recently completed what could well be the first formal scientific study attempting to discover which areas of the human brain are activated during ‘ improvisation ‘ tasks – specifically ‘ jazz improvisation ‘.
Musicians were hooked up to a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ( fMRI
) machine whilst they played improvised jazz riffs on a special keyboard.
The team found that part of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex ( MPFC ), specifically the Frontal Polar Cortex ( Brodmann Area 10 ) was highly active during the jazzy outputs.
However, although it's now known that the Brodmann Area 10 ( containing several trillion as yet unmapped neural connections ) ' lights up ' during jazz-improvs, it remains
“ . . . poorly understood but appears to serve a broad-based integrative function, combining multiple cognitive operations in the pursuit of higher behavioral goals “
The team are planning further experiments involving fMRI and improvisational poets.
؟ ؟ ؟
• Press release here :
• Full research paper here :
• Audio of the musicians' jazzy riffs ( around the theme of ' Magnetism '
) here:
27 FEB 08
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Hairpins in Southampton
[ Apologies to readers regarding the late appearance of this article, which we somehow missed in the Nov. 2007 edition of the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Ed. ]
A joint research project from the University of Washington, US, and the University of Southampton, UK, has undertaken what could well be the first formal study into walking uphill and downhill using ‘ ziz-zag ‘ paths.
When the terrain is fairly steeply inclined “ . . . the best strategy
should undergo a transition to a broken symmetry solution “ in other
words, a zig-zag path is best.
The team's mathematical model of slope-climbing confirmed that the metabolic costs, or the energy expended per unit distance, is at its most efficient when walkers zig-zag. Affirming the way people actually behave on slopes.
Things change dramatically though when the ground is more level :
“ For weakly inclined slopes, the best strategy involves walking directly uphill or downhill.”
؟ ؟ ؟
Note :
The study also threw light upon the differences between walking uphill and downhill – finding that people often use shortcuts ( short-circuiting the zig-zag ) when going downhill – but not when going up.
University press release here :
Paper published here :
Editor’s comment :
Presumably, the model might break down when the slope is very steep – in which case a straight(ish) line could well become the most efficient again ? Further research required ? Ed.
26 FEB 08
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Journal of the week
First – a definition ( from the Cambridge International
Dictionary of English )
Mundane [ adjective ]
' Very ordinary and therefore not interesting.'
We turn, then, to -
The Journal of Mundane Behavior which is co-hosted by the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at Millersville University and the Department of Sociology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Fullerton.
It’s “ a peer-reviewed journal that is devoted to the study of the ‘ unmarked ‘ “
Sadly, the Journal of Mundane Behavior is no longer accepting paper submissions. “ We are on moratorium and may return later. “
But the latest issue ( Journal of Mundane Behavior volume 5, number 1 ) is still online, and carries a number of mundanity-focussed articles – such as :
• ' Lights ! Camera ! Sermon !: Additional Research Notes on Sacred Servant Categories Within the Popular Cinema '
• ' Lower Manhattan Man '
and, Really Magazine’s recommendation :
• Doug Tanoury’s ' Ode to Feet '
25 FEB 08
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Equipped cognition à propos le caddie.
If you find yourself in a supermarket pushing a ‘ shopping-cart ‘ ( or shopping-trolley if you’re in the UK ) don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s simply a wire basket on casters.
New research, from the Université de Toulouse II, France ( just published
in the journal ‘ Marketing Theory ‘ )
“ . . . investigates how such a trivial device as a shopping cart may surprisingly contribute to shaping exchanges in supermarkets. “
The cart has been found to have no less than three basic functions – and remarkably, they all rhyme astonishingly closely.
To summarise, the cart enables – and possibly even encourages - the tasks of :
• Calculation ( how much you can get in it, and how much it costs )
• Qualculation ( quality-based rational judgements ) , and
• Calqulation ( from the French verb `calquer', i.e. adjusting one's standpoint to that of another, and vice versa ).
Checkout the paper here :
؟ ؟ ؟
Further study :
Do not miss the work of acknowledged shopping-cart expert and taxonomic artist Julian Montague - who has single-handedly been working for the past six years to develop a system of identification for objets trouvé -
Formally known as the :
Stray Shopping Cart Identification System
22 FEB 08
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' The Weltbild : some Timespace : a Cappuccino and the bill please.'
“ What exactly is community, how is it made and what does it have to do with cafés ? “
For the answers, consult the latest issue of Time & Society –
which carries a research paper from the Institute of Geography, University
of Edinburgh, specifically addressing
' The Café '.
Confronted by a convenient café, say, on the way to the office, one might reflect, as the author does :
“ As a substantial and substantive occasion which we come upon and might try out it is perceptible and inquiries are constantly launched into what kind of event it is, how it works, who can justifiably do it, whether to start attending the places you find it regularly. “
To clarify, the author explored many cafés across the UK – from the swishest latté bars to the greasiest of spoons.
The article principally concentrates though, on " a specific occasioned place, ‘ breakfast in the café ’, to begin a respecification of the orderly emergent properties of timespace. "
And, en passant :
“ . . . one ends up with an odd question. ‘ What is breakfast in this café ?’ “
The answer is provided thus :
“ What I would suggest is that each particular breakfast-time as it happens in a café is the gradual recomposition of the weltbild “
Settle down with several cappuccinos and read the full 20 page research paper
here :
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Notes and further reading :
The paper follows on from, and compliments, the extensive 3-year-long ‘ Cappuccino Community ‘ research project, from the same author.
Which was financed by the Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC ) at a cost of £141,827.43
The ESRC recieves most of its £181 million budget from the recently formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is funded by UK taxpayers.
21 FEB 08
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Science out of the doldrums ?
The latest issue of the journal Public Understanding of Science is running an intriguingly titled article :
‘ Television weathercasters as potentially prominent science communicators ‘.
At first glance it might seem like an ‘ imaginative ‘ or even frivolous concept – but the authors - from Emory University in Atlanta – point to the depressing fact that :
“ Broadcast meteorologists are often the only people in television newsrooms who have a background in science. “
Going a long way towards explaining the way that most TV news schedules consistently ignore breaking scientific news issues ( unless they have a ‘cute’ or 'shock' peg ).
And how, when they do cover something, they very often comprehensively misunderstand the point.
The idea that TV weathercasters might be able to redress the balance is being pioneered by the American Meteorological Society.
They even have their own website earthguage.net devoted towards helping the de-facto ‘ Station Scientists ‘ develop their potential - and the potential is enormous, reaching at least 180 million viewers per day.
20 FEB 08
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Non verbal communications in Oslo
Almost all of forms of human non verbal communication techniques ( hand gesturing, facial expressions, posturing, eye-movements etc etc ) have come in for scientific scrutiny at one time or another – there is, however, one notable exception.
Sighing.
Although ‘ sighs ‘ have been scientifically investigated with regard to their possible physiological effects ( e.g. increasing oxygen flow in asthma sufferers ) , the sigh has not been the subject of any empirical research from a psychological viewpoint.
Until now.
Professor Karl Halvor Teigen and his team from the Societal Psychology dept. at the University of Oslo, Norway, have just published their study entitled :
‘ Is a sigh " just a sigh " ? Sighs as emotional signals and responses to a difficult task ‘ in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.
A series of three experiments investigated sighing and attempted to clarify its origins and its meanings.
Studies 1 & 2 looked at what people think about sighs, and study 3 created situations where actual sighs were induced ( via a difficult puzzle ) and recorded.
Sighs are not just restricted to occurrences of ' å være oppgitt ' , ( disappointed, weary, frustrated etc in Norwegian ), for although the majority of sighs appear to imply ‘ something being wrong ‘ and also ‘ there is nothing to be done about it ‘ , there are certainly other types of sighs – associated with enjoyment, relief, bliss and of course, love.
The experiments showed though that the primary reason for sighing appears to be associated with feelings of ‘ giving up ‘ .
In short : “ A sigh expresses a mismatch between ideals and realities “
The research leads to a suggestion that there is a need for further studies – perhaps even to develop a graded taxonomy of types of sighs.
18 FEB 08
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Person/thing relations & dirt
Just published in the Journal of Consumer Culture is a research article from
the University of Lancaster which investigates our everyday interactions
with material objects.
“ Meaningful material interaction involves the subject/object, person/thing relations of perception and gesture . . . “
By way of examples of human / objects / interaction, the study pays particular attention to flat-pack furniture and professional work on cars.
The article is ‘ subscribers only ‘ , but readers who would like to learn more about the subject can find quite a few relevant and free-access online articles from the same author, who has previously investigated car repair in some depth.
Especially with regard to dirt.
“ . . . historical and anthropological analyses of dirt are shown to be overly concerned with cultural significance and the idea that dirt is no more than ' matter out of place '. “
See Dealing with dirt *
The article touches on the writing of Sartre on slime, pointing out that car owners can often view oil and grease as ‘ dirty ‘ even when it's brand new.
And, in the final analysis suggests that ( within a garage / repair setting at least )
“ . . . dealing with dirt is a practical matter that is not prescribed by ritual or cultural significance.”
؟ ؟ ؟
Also see :
Our previous report from earlier this month regarding ' theorizing a concept of salvaging ' in car scrapyards.
؟ ؟ ؟
notes :
* the research was carried out under a £41K grant from the Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC ).
The ESRC recieves most of its £181 million budget from the recently-formed Department
for Innovation, Universities and Skills which is funded
by UK taxpayers.
Reader Marco McC :
- draws our attention to one of the very few technical works on the theory of dirt ' Größerer Versuch über den Schmutz ' ( Smut: An Anatomy of Dirt.) by Christian Enzensberger, 1968.
Sadly though, according to Wikipedia : " It has since then fallen into neglect and, in spite of a resurgence of interest in what, for want of a better term, could be called Rubbish Theory remains unfortunately out of print in both English and German. "
14 FEB 08
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Enhanced Predictive Capabilities
“ If one could find some method to their madness . . . the asymmetric threat could be made significantly less serious “ according to scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The ‘ they ‘ in question are ‘ the terrorists ‘.
The university reviewed the ‘ behavior signatures ‘ of 12,000 ' terrorist ' attacks in Iraq in order to develop a computer model that could ( oneday ) “ identify trends in the behaviors of the adversaries. “
There were of course many difficulties with the dataset - and the system ( if completed ) would never be able to predict when and where an attack will occur.
However, if the software were to be finalised :
" A commander with limited intelligence and security assets can concentrate resources at those locations that have higher probabilities of attack."
p.s.
“ the university is seeking additional dollars to further develop the concept “
Press release here
13 FEB 08
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No more SQs ?
First, an example :
‘ So, you’re a comedian are you sir ? ‘
According to the latest research from Loughborough University , UK . . .
SQs , or ‘ Silly Questions ‘ are often used as an interrogation technique in British police interviews with crime suspects.
The article, just published in the journal Discourse Studies concentrates on the use of SQs by the police officers ( rather than the suspects ) , and concludes :
“ SQs may work in ways that are institutionally
adversarial with regard to criminal charges, relevant evidence and self-incriminating
testimony. “
Reader Peter B comments :
' I should cocoa , a likely story '
12 FEB 08
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15 Minutes on the D-list
The latest issue of Television & New Media is carrying an illuminating
article from New York University on the subject
of Reality TV shows.
Perhaps going partway towards explaining why there are so many of them on TV. It’s not just that the audiences love them – the TV production companies do to.
Reason ?
The participants aren’t in a union.
11 FEB 08 ( late edition )
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Timing is everything
A joint Italian / Spanish study, just published in the journal Acta Psychologica , has thrown light on a possible link between mathematical accuracy and the time of day.
A team of 96 students were tested on a number-matching task at 9 a.m. and again at 1 p.m.
They were also tested for their ‘ alertness levels ‘.
“ As expected, participants showed higher subjective alertness levels at 1 p.m. than at 9 a.m.. “
However, their performance in the 9 a.m. maths test was worse than could be explained solely by their lack of alertness.
Could the study have implications for academia, industry, and even government departments ?
“ The project’s overspend is easily explained in hindsight - as it is believed that the minister’s advisors carried out their calculations before lunchtime “
See here
11 FEB 08
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Attention please
Researchers from the intriguingly named Sex, Alcohol and Culture Lab at University of Washington don’t say whether they had difficulty in recruiting the 78 heterosexual men [ students ? Ed. ] for their latest study into how drinking alcohol affects ‘ performance ‘.
On this occasion, Really Magazine will spare readers the details of the experiment – suffice it to say that the volunteers ‘ were randomized to intoxication ‘ and then ‘ instructed to maximize '.
So, jumping to the conclusions of the
study :
“ Findings suggest there is no simple answer regarding
how alcohol affects sexual arousal. “
Perhaps another round ( of research ) then ?
And there could be some questions too regarding the use of the Plethysmograph [ pron. pluh-THIZ-muh-graf ] which the team employed to measure the participants’ enthusiasm.
The device has a controversial history, especially with regard to its suitability for determining legal issues - some detractors claiming that it’s unreliable, and that its measurements should not be permitted to stand up in court.
08 FEB 08
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Smart in Georgia
The Georgia Institute of Technology
“ reaches across traditional boundaries and uses technology in creative ways to solve problems and improve the quality of life . . . “
As part of that drive, they’ve recently been developing micro-engineered copper chips which could play a key role in the next generation . . .
of munitions detonators . . .
“ When you hear that a weapon is ‘smart,’ it’s really
all about the fuze. The fuze is ‘ smart ’ in that it knows the
exact environment that the weapon needs to be in, and detonates it at the
right time “
07 FEB 08
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Wa in Tochigi
The president of the Ashikaga Institute of Technology (AILT) - Dr.Tadao Yoshida – points out that -
“ . . . in the 21st century it is imperative for us to develop industry and technology with a consideration for the harmony between man and nature. In other words, ‘ warm-heartedness ‘ must form a principal part of technology. “
In fact, the school motto of AIT invokes the spirit of ' wa ' or harmony, as advocated by Prince Shotoku (574-622).
In line
with their wa ethos, AIT has become one of the few universities
which has a pyrotechnics
dept, and runs graduate and postgraduate courses
in firework-tech.
An example of their research can be seen in the latest issue of Jpyro , in which investigators from the institute describe their findings regarding the spectral emissions of toy sparklers.
Noting :
“ . . . the incandescent emission is principally in the visible light area “
And further :
“ The three dimensional spectra of sparklers and torches showed that the peak intensities of the spectra fluctuate with time “
06 FEB 08
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Coming to a field near you ?
The irradiation of food has received a good deal of media attention over the last few years. Less well covered is the idea of irradiating sewage sludge.
The concept, which goes back at least two
decades, has recently been taken a step further by the Institute
of Soil, Water and Environmental Science in Israel.
The research team point out that “ Gamma irradiation
[sic.] is a form of pure energy “
and their experiments, which irradiated sewage sludge and FarmYard Manure
(FYM) “ indicate no adverse effect on soil properties. “
Their article is published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management
Given the controversy which surrounded the safety implications of food-irradiation, it’s perhaps not surprising that Really Magazine has been unable to determine if there are any large-scale field trials either planned or in operation.
If any readers know of any, please tell us where.
04 FEB 08
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Our nomination :
. . . for the most intriguingly titled research paper of the week.
‘ Dinner
conversations with a trilingual two-year-old . . . ‘
Focus particles revisited
The current issue of the Journal of Semantics is examining the meaning(s) of a particularly hard-to-pin-down word. ‘ Only ‘.
Several theories regarding the meaning of ‘ only ‘ have been postulated in the body of pragmatic literature, and this new article focuses on “ the relation between the exclusive proposition and the proposition expressed by the prejacent ( the only-less sentence ). “
It also delves into negative-onlys ( e.g.' Not only sugar is sweet ' )
Unfortunately, a full examination of all the possible meanings of ‘ only ‘ is not really feasible in a single article. And so many of the subtle variations are not covered. For example the use of ‘ only ‘ to signify singularity e.g. ‘ The only tree left in the forest ‘ – or the even more enigmatic ‘ Stephen’s only gone and broken his arm ! ‘
The full article is ‘ subscribers only ‘ [ there’s another one ! Ed. ] but Really Magazine has tracked down a link to a similar article by the same author here
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Also see : A 1991 paper from the same journal which examined not
only only but also also.
02 FEB 08
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Link of the day
Here ( caution : may cause dismay )
Frank Zappa : odd shoes – links and connections.
Historically,
auto-salvage yards have not come in for a great deal of attention from academia.
But now, researchers from The Department of Modern Culture
and Media at Brown University, Rhode Island, are attempting
to :
“ theorize a concept of salvaging. “
Their essay, just published in the latest edition of
Space and Culture, points
out that
“ focusing attention of the concept of salvage offers a second chance to revitalize the human subject, rescuing the present from an oppressed past. “
For example :
“ On the one hand the salvage yard perpetuates modernization in its reclamation of materials for new production, and on the other it stymies modernization through the reuse of the old. “
The essay covers exhaust pipes, junkyard dogs, odd shoes, trickling clocks,
and even touches on Frank Zappa’s ( reputed ) discovery of the band
Autosalvage in 1968
Read the full essay ( or one very reminiscent of it ) , with accompanying
photos, here
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Note : The essay also draws attention to the often-missed distinctions
between a Salvage Yard and a Junk Yard.
01 FEB 08
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