"Imagine a vest or shirt, or even a fancy ball gown made with this technology. The antennas would be inconspicuous, and even attractive. People would want to wear them." That's John Volakis, a professor at Ohio State University, trying to convince fashionistas that radio antennae incorporated into clothing, using plastic film and metallic thread — for cell phone, Internet, and emergency care access, much like soldiers' uniforms already have — is the next wave in fashion. This, of course, gives new meaning to the term wireless bra. Looks That Kill Talk about a cold case: The Egyptian ... Read More
As if Commercials Weren’t Bad Enough Already
September 9, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
After a two-year experiment, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, in conjunction with Samsung, have written a concept paper in the journal Angewandte Chemie explaining that they think it's possible to "generate potentially thousands of odors, at will, in a compact device small enough to fit on the back of your TV." To which we say: Gross. But here's how Sungho Jin, a world-renowned materials expert at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, described his invention: "For example, if people are eating pizza, the viewer smells pizza coming from a TV or cell phone. ... Read More
The Exploitation of Muggles in Harry Potter’s World
July 8, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Every so often, we find a study that makes us question our place in the cosmos. Zakir Husain's paper in the Journal of Creative Communications, "Wizards, Muggles and Economic Exploitation Dependency Relations in the World of Harry Potter," is one such treatise. In it, the Delhi University economist posits that "the Wizarding world remains an epitome of the colonial society prevailing in the pre-World War I era, tightly bound within through blood, lineage and money, and sustained through exploitation of the peripheral non-magical world. Muggle lovers like Mr. Weasley may clash with ... Read More
New Dinosaur Gets a Rather Large Name
April 29, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
A new dinosaur discovered in Utah has been named Brontomerus mcintoshi. Now, we have no quarrel at all with the species name, mcintoshi, because it was chosen in honor of John "Jack" McIntosh, who is described as "a retired physicist at Wesleyan University, Conn., and lifelong avocational paleontologist." But guess what Brontomerus translates into? You guessed it: "Thunder Thighs." "Brontomerus mcintoshi is a charismatic dinosaur and an exciting discovery for us," said the project's lead author Mike Taylor, a researcher in the department of earth sciences at University College London, in ... Read More
Time for Robin Hood to Make a Comeback
March 11, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
What do you think of when you think of Nottingham? We know, we know — the shopping, the nightlife district, the ... um ... er ... oh, who are we kidding? We all think of Robin Hood, of course. But try telling that to the city leaders. Researchers from Nottingham University Business School surveyed nearly 400 visitors and locals on the question, "If I say 'Nottingham' to you, what immediately comes to mind?" Nearly one-third of respondents named the legendary archer and bandit; shopping came in second, followed by crime. (Apparently "stealing from the rich" really caught on in Nottingham, ... Read More
Standing in Alcohol Won’t Get You Drunk
March 4, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Sorry, folks. It turns out you can't get drunk by submerging your feet in alcohol. The belief is widespread in Denmark, where, apparently, there's not much to do during those long winter nights but experiment with different, and frankly bizarre, ways of inviting alcohol into your pores. But according to research in the December issue of the British Medical Journal, there's really no point to stomping around in vats of alcohol — unless you're making wine, of course. The study was led by Dr. Peter Lommer Kristensen from Denmark's Hillerød Hospital, who recruited three adult volunteers to ... Read More
College Guys Will Remember the Pretty Ones
December 30, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
From the "Studies That Should Surprise No One" file: A new study in Applied Cognitive Psychology found that college-aged men were more likely to remember whether a woman showed sexual interest in them when she was deemed attractive, dressed provocatively and expressed her attraction toward them. Who'da thunk it? The guys were shown full-body photographs of collegiate women who were signaling either attraction or rejection — for instance, a frown of rejection versus a pleasant smile. The researchers found that the average young man demonstrated an excellent memory of the women's initial ... Read More
Next They’ll Tell Us Germs Can Dance
December 23, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Anyone who's ever visited a male collegiate dorm room can testify to the amazing properties of bacteria, but not even the guys in Animal House could have seen this one coming: Bacteria can stand up — gulp — and walk around. University of Notre Dame researcher Joshua Shrout, co-author of a new study with UCLA scientist Gerard Wong in the journal Nature, reports that he and his colleagues have observed very specific patterns in the movement of bacteria, which has important implications for the treatment of infections. "The significance of the work is that we show bacteria are capable ... Read More
Debunking Theories of a Terrorist Power Grab
December 17, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
You know all those doom-and-gloomers who get up before Congress and testify about how terrorists are going to attack America's electric grid, sending blackouts toppling across the country like dominoes? Well, here's what Seth Blumsack, a power-system expert at Pennsylvania State University, has to say about the terrifying prospect: "That's a bunch of hooey." Blumsack and his colleague Paul Hines at the University of Vermont have just published a report in the journal Chaos — and we can only imagine what the deadlines there are like — that refutes the drumbeat of warnings, many of which ... Read More
Researchers Tackle the ‘Hipster’ Phenomenon
October 29, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
At long last, science has tackled the phenomenon of the hipster, the contradictory symbol of coolness that strives for nothing other than complete "hipsterness" while firmly rejecting any association whatsoever with the term "hipster." As Zeynep Arsel of Concordia University and J. Craig Thompson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison write in the Journal of Consumer Research: "This iconic category has evolved from its countercultural roots, originally aligned with beat sensibilities, to a trend-seeking über-consumer of the 2000s." Think of all the innocent berets that have been worn ... Read More
