intentional cat-likeness
Will cats continue to adopt their famously adorable, overbearing “cat-like” demeanor when forced to endure tons of attention from an enthusiastic public? Simona Cannas and colleagues at the University of Milan in Italy have produced some data that may draw attention to this question.
Their research, “Evaluation of cat behavior during cat shows” was published in the Veterinary Behavior Journal, focusing on the 82 cats at the cat show. (Researchers use technical terminology to describe the event as a “feline exposition.”)
They collected the data with great care. “An observer stood in front of the cage once every hour from 10:00 to 17:00, a total of 8 times for each cat.”
“An analysis of the behavior exhibited by cats on the day of the fair revealed that most of the cats were sleeping (93.9%), resting (62.2%), and looking at their surroundings (92.7%).”
The researchers’ conclusions are still up for debate as to what these cats had in mind. The study concluded that “the cat show environment represents a stressful and stimulating situation for cats. Nevertheless, our results identified few behaviors that cause discomfort or stress. Hmm…further research is needed to confirm and deepen our results.”
What a thread
Very long and thin things make a huge difference in what is possible depending on the length-to-thin ratio that catches the eye of mathematicians.
According to a press release, Researchers at North Carolina State University welcome the development of a “filamentary supercapacitor.” The name comes from the fact that the device is thread-like and can act as a capacitor, storing and releasing electrical charge in a controlled manner. The press release quotes Wei Gao, co-inventor of the technology.
She said: “Imagine being able to make a thread, a regular textile thread, that also becomes a battery. You can basically hide it in your clothes. You will be able to add additional functionality.”
We may be entering an era of thin technology.
As Feedback pointed out (October 1, 2022), the new city planned as part of Saudi Arabia’s Neom project is designed to be 170,000 meters long and 200 meters wide. Could North Carolina’s filamentous supercapacitor technology be integrated into the exoskeletons of Saudi Arabia’s cities? It would be a dramatic leap into the future for a country that claims to want to break away from its current economic dependence on oil.
This suddenly almost plausible possibility is indicative of the foresight of former Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson, who wrote almost a century ago that “one can never be too rich or too thin.” He is said to have said.
Measuring addiction
The old saying “If it can be measured, it must be important” has haunted many research efforts to explain why it is important to measure two out of five fingers on a person’s hand. Specifically, the second and fourth fingers. The two-finger quest is similar to addiction in a way. In some cases, this exploration considers addiction itself, perhaps better understood by measuring fingers.
Typically, explanations for finger proportions have spread in vague form, with the idea that hormone levels in the womb before birth somehow explain the relative length of a person’s fingers years later.
There are many and imaginative studies focusing on finger ratios. The types of important mysteries that researchers are trying to explain vary widely.
How diverse is it? Here we introduce some of the themes that have been addressed in numerical ratio research published in recent years. “Hunting success among Hadza hunters.” University students’ religious beliefs. “Parental income disparity and children’s digit ratio.” Artistic ability. “Age at first marriage among semi-nomadic people in Namibia.” “Psychological characteristics in a sample of cave explorers.” A bite wound caused during a fight. “Management Skills of Managers Employed in Public and Private Organizations in Udaipur City”; and “Number of Sex Partners”.
And addiction. Mehmet Gülcan Gülok and his colleagues from various institutions in Turkey recently published “Second to fourth digit (2D:4D) ratio for heroin and cannabis addicts” in the Journal of Ethnicity in Drug Abuse. Like most digit ratio studies, this one was done with great care. “We took the subject’s 2D and 4D lengths using a sensitive caliper and calculated 2D:4D.” And as always, it’s full of promise. “Our findings seem promising regarding whether prenatal hormonal factors are important in the pathogenesis of addiction.”
denver sniff test
If something and the headline seems odd, it might be worth considering. Anyone who stumbles across a gruesome study by an American environmental scientist may initially react to the ambiguity of its title. “Assessing the environmental justice aspects of odor in Denver, Colorado“.
Did that title have a solemn meaning? Is it really interesting? Both? No matter what the intent, Feedback is a tribute to the creator. Their language appealed to Mason Porter’s olfactory and linguistic sensibilities and alerted us.
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers. His website is impossible.com.
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