Slashdot Mirror
'Why Banana Skins Are Slippery' Wins IgNobel
gbjbaanb writes: This year's Ig Nobel prize was won by Japanese researchers investigating why banana skins produced a frictionless surface compared to apple and orange peels. (Apparently, "The polysaccharide follicular gels that give banana skins their slippery properties are also found in the membranes where our bones meet," so its not all fun and jollity). Other prizes were awarded for noting that dogs only defecate when aligned with north-south magnetic fields, and that "night owl" people are more likely to be psychopaths than early risers. Yes, that probably includes you.
"Other prizes were awarded for noting that dogs only defecate when aligned with north-south magnetic fields"
So when you're lost in a forest, watch which way your dog is pointing when it poops.
I'm sure I can market "Compass Dogs" as a new thing.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
So what I just understood is that if I line my yard with east-west rows of low chicken wire fencing such that the neighbors' dogs can't face north or south while on my property, they will not poo in my yard.
BRILLIANT!
When I was in school I worked at a grocery store for 7 years. I never once saw somebody slip on a banana in the produce department. I did however see many people nearly break their necks slipping on grapes. Those things are slippery when stepped on. But then again, it was rare there was just a peel of a banana on the ground verses a whole banana. Grapes are very slippy, that's why you often see carpets on the ground around them in grocery stores.
"night owl" people are more likely to be psychopaths than early risers.
If you stop waking us up at ungodly hours of the morning, maybe we wouldn't be so stressed out. Did you ever think of that Mr Be-at-work-at-Nine-or-you're-fired?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Chuck Jones, call your office.
Disinfect the GNU General Public Virus!
When I was young I was a night owl, even working the night shift for 4 years. Got a day job that kinda killed that, then in my mid-30s I decided I wanted sunlight when I got off work so I turned into a morning person. I'm up 5-6 AM every day with no alarm.
Woosh ?
Very similar results with me too, although for me that effect waited until I was 35'ish.
Plural of anecdote = data?
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
Why won't anyone think of the clowns?!
Loads of folks don't RTFA.
Some don't even RTFS.
It's a special sort that can't even properly RTFT.
And normal people enforce a bed time, drag their asses out of bed groggily, then come in and futz around for a few hours until about lunch,
I go to bed when I'm tired. And I generally wake up before the alarm clock. I used to start work at 6:00AM and get most of my work done before the lazy shits and psychopathic boss rolled in and wasted the rest of the day bullshitting about sports team scores and betting pools.
If you push yourself, both physically and mentally, you won't stay up late easily. Its the lazy bastards that are up until all hours. And your need for sleep isn't proportional to your previous day's activities. So you'll still need only your 'standard' length o sleep.
Have gnu, will travel.
Can't tell if trolling...
None the less...
"The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The awards are sometimes veiled criticism (or gentle satire), but are also used to point out that even the most absurd-sounding avenues of research can yield useful knowledge."
Same here. I was a night owl in my youth. Then I got married and had kids. The baby period reconditioned me to the point where I'm up at 3:00AM most days. I'm so tired that by 8:30PM I'm rushing to get the kids tucked in and read to so I can go to bed at 9:00PM and the cycle repeats.
The good news is that I'm at the SysAdmin job at 5:30AM and have a good three hours with the servers before the rest of the folks arrive. I'm out by 3:00PM, have some day light, and I'm still a psychopath (I'll fix your login tomorrow morning).
That didn't used to be the criteria. Back in the old days (you young punk...), nearly all the IgNobels were given for completely daft yet published works. Like the Japanese fella who claimed to find microscopic homuncula, or the folks who sold DNA-free fragrance in a double-helix bottle, or measuring people's brainwave patterns while they chewed different flavors of gum.
Nowadays it's all "wait, that actually makes sense after all!" What's the fun in that?
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
According to numerous articles on a quick Google search, it seems to be true that they defecate according to magnetic alignment.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Actually, coffee may be part of that.
Turns out that coffee delays the build up of some chemical that makes you tired... i.e. it makes your body clock run slow, when taken in the morning.
However, if you take it late at night, before you go to bed, then the level of that chemical goes down more quickly and you'll wake up earlier the next day. Surprisingly it doesn't make it that much harder to go to sleep either, although if you're not already tolerant to coffee, all bets are off on falling asleep promptly.
Other things that affect the body clock are light, and food (big breakfasts are good for waking up early the next day, skipping breakfast = super bad).
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"Plural of anecdote = data?
And thus you prove to the world one and for all that all those young whipper snappers really are psychopaths.
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
Jaroslav Flegr, Jan Havlíek and Jitka Hanuova-Lindova, and to David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan, Lisa Seyfried, for investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.
My favorite research paper of the year:
"Quantification of Pizza Baking Properties of Different Cheeses, and Their Correlation with Cheese Functionality,"
Maybe next year.
I wouldn't go to that link if I were you. My office system warned me of a malicious exploit there: "A known bad file was blocked from opening." Program: winners[1].htm(Exploit)
Might be a false alarm .. but then again, maybe not.
Protein. You want protein and fat to wake up. Even if sleep-deprived, whipping up a 3 egg omlette with bacon and sausage will get you back in shape. Massive stacks of flapjacks and biscuits are going to weigh on you and make you sleep (and make you fat, and give you heart disease).
Support my political activism on Patreon.
To paraphrase Feynman, all accurate science is good science because despite how meaningless you may think your findings are, someone in the future may come along and do something wonderful with them. Keep asking 'why'.
That is true only in absence of stronger local control. A leash is enough to override the magnetic stimulus.
Now there are whole journals dedicated to crackpots that were disgruntled about not getting published in mainstream journals. If you want completely daft, you can get a regular subscription to dozens of such stories each month and not wait for an annual award. At some point, some of the crazier such articles, which are published somewhere, become more sad than funny. Stuff that might actually still contribute somewhere or actually make sense but seem very weird is much easier to find a humorous side to. There is a difference between giving the award to someone who will laugh upon receiving it and might even join in some publicity antics while having fun, versus someone who will be pissed off to hear they got the award and even considering suing over it.
Slippery banana peels remind me of a favorite scene from The Wizard of Speed and Time.
-kgj
Dogs only poop magnetic fields if you feed the dogs magnetized shavings. Which I do.
-kgj
me as your on the computer at 3am psychopath overlord who has to get up at 7am.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I've noticed about five people have responded, and some of them have user IDs in the millions. That's a pretty small cross-section; and I've had up to 50 responses to posts on Slashdot in under an hour, when I've really pissed the crowd off with some uncomfortable fact. I'm not taking much stock in the overwhelming rise of the majority rule of morning people here.
There is some evidence that 80% of the population awakens far too early, to detrimental effect on health. The idea has gained some traction slowly over the past decade or two; in the next 30-40 years, I expect we'll link circadian disruption by bastardized early-riser sleep culture to the high incidence of stupidity, depression, and psychosis leading to school shootings.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
These prizes should go to people who contribute to the scientific community in such a way as to better humanity. no one gives 2 shits about why banana peels are slippery.
Somewhere right now, someone is posting an outraged message on Facebook about how scientists got a Nobel Peace Prize for research on banana peels, and suggesting that we cut all science funding.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
There is some evidence
Missing link (not the caveman type).
that 80% of the population awakens far too early,
Or goes to bed too late?
Have gnu, will travel.
Mozzarella should be the primary cheese, but there's nothing wrong with adding a bit of gorgonzola, parmesan, fontina, pecorino, provolone or scamorza for a bit of added flavor.
Eat the rich.
If it isn't mozz, get it the fuck off my pizza!
This man gets it.
Pizza needs one fucking cheese and it's mozzarella. Everything else is pure fucking shit functionally.
To paraphrase Feynman, all accurate science is good science because despite how meaningless you may think your findings are, someone in the future may come along and do something wonderful with them. Keep asking 'why'.
To quote Whitman: That you are here–that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you have to watch this fucking obnoxious iPhone commercial again. That the powerful play goes on and you have to watch this fucking obnoxious iPhone commercial again.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm was late morning person. Most of my life I was self employed so I could work around it. Then I had to get jobs that started at 7: am. My last job required that I get up at 4:00 am but was 4 tens so every weekend I slept in so by Sunday night I couldn't go to sleep until 2:00 am and went to work on two hours sleep. After 15 months of that I had a physical breakdown and after being unable to work for two years was placed on disability. I was 60. I have to take a sleeping medication now or I can only sleep after being awake for 36 hours.
anyone know more?
Nope. Get to work for the 2015 prize.
Have gnu, will travel.
For what it's worth, I don't use an alarm to get up. 4:30 to 5:00 is just when I wake up naturally.
Once upon a time, many years ago, I drank a lot of coffee and sodas. I had a hard time waking up, and my ideal was to sleep till 11 or so.
I stopped with the caffeine, and after all the side-effects worked their way through my system, I found that I woke up like switching on a light switch - from fully asleep to fully awake in a second or two....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
The original comment, that noone is a morning person, was the sort of comment that will only produce responses that contradict it - why would someone bother with "yeah, I can't get things going before noon either"?
So, no, the responses saying, in effect, "I am a morning person you ignorant clod" should not be read as saying anything other than "yeah, there are some people who are morning people. Maybe not many, but some."
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
and that "night owl" people are more likely to be psychopaths than early risers.
The same thing we do every night, Pinky ...
It seems like a silly thing to research until a coating is developed for artificial joints that makes them last twice as long... made from polymers designed to have surface characteristics derived from banana peels.
Science is funny like that. You take something with no real practical purpose like a silicon carbide crystal and a cat's-whisker detector, and 60 years later you have the LED. It is foolish to look at an avenue of knowledge and declare that it is a waste. Without being able to see into the future, it is impossible to know what knowledge will end up being useful.
And according to tests with actual dogs, the shit in every bloody direction.
or goes to bed too late?
The implication is that humans are genetically predisposed to be awake for a few hours after the sun goes down, and sensitive to daylight. It's the same as tulips opening at night, or mice sleeping during the day. It appears 80% of humans are genetically predisposed to stay up later and wake up later than agrarian society dictates (you have to get up way early to tend crops and milk cows).
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Floatation-REST. LOok into it.
Support my political activism on Patreon.