Improbable Research

Here’s episode 106 (”Superior shot, history 24/7″) of the Improbable Research TV series.

To see it, click on the image at right, and you will be whisked to YouTube (where you can subscribe, if you like, to the Improbable Research channel). Improbable TV can also be seen on MySpace and elsewhere.

These are three-minute videos about research that makes people laugh, then makes them think.

For links about each episode’s content, and an FAQ, see the Improbable TV page.

Podiatrists and textile designers may have their own opinions about why stockings droop, but it is first and foremost an engineering question. That’s why a study called Prevention from Slipping Down of Top Parts of Socks, published in 2006 in the Journal of Textile Engineering, stands paramount.

The authors, Toshiyuki Tsujisaka, Yoichi Matsumoto, Hiroaki Ishizawa, Yoshiaki Azuma and Hideo Morooka, are based variously at Shinsu University in Ueda, Japan, at the Nara Prefecture Institute of Industrial Technology and at the Nara Women’s University.

They summarise their report tidily:

“In this study, to design and develop socks that provide wearing comfort, the way of preventing slipping down of socks’ top parts is investigated….”

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

The Annals of Improbable Research disclaims any and all responsibility for the veracity, existence, safety, or sense of any or all contents or consequences of these advertisements. Proceed at your own risk.

A science book, complete with pages and bookcover. Never opened. BOX 3.

Polyps. BOX 4.

Two-wheeled unicycle, original patent document signed by the inventor. BOX 5.

Plastic replica of a lock of hair from Charles Darwin. BOX 6.

Preserved Cortland apple Apple Computer’s company cafeteria, 1981.

Hybrid animals, assorted. BOX 8.

Transistors in pickle jars, unopened. BOX 10.

Transistors in pickle jars. BOX 17.

Edible slide rules. You want em? I got em. All sizes. BOX 14.

Carload of carboys of benzene Autographed. BOX 22.

Leftover bits of taxidermist Floyd Torbertson, preserved as per his last will and testament. Historic items. BOX 23.

Book — “The Indecent Docent,” fourth edition, signed by a reader. BOX 45.

Homemade zygotes. Just like Mom’s. BOX 48.

Those are the Unclassified Ads from AIR 14:3.

“Does Food Quality Really Matter in Restaurants? Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions,” Y. Namkung and SooCheong Jang, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, vol. 31, No. 3, August 2007, pp. 387-410 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1096348007299924).

(Thanks to Ellen Brancomb for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Purdue University, report:

this study shows that overall food quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions.

(That’s an excerpt from the article “May We Recommend,” publishd in AIR 14:3.)

“Trichobezoar,” Ronald M. Levy and Srinadh Komanduri, New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 357, no. 21, November 22, 2007, p. e23 (http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1056/NEJMicm067796). (The authors, at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, report (accompanied by photographic evidence):

A previously healthy 18-year-old woman presented with a 5-month history of pain in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen, abdominal distention, postprandial emesis… Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed a large bezoar occluding nearly the entire stomach, without extension into the duodenum. On questioning, the patient stated that she had had a habit of eating her hair for many years — a condition called trichophagia. Owing to the large size of the trichobezoar (37.5 by 17.5 by 17.5 cm), endoscopic removal was not attempted. Laparoscopic removal was attempted; however, conversion to an open procedure was required to completely remove the 4.5-kg trichobezoa

(That’s an excerpt from the article “Icky Cutesy Research Review,” published in AIR 14:3.)