READERS with a taste for the banal may be interested in a new online
magazine, the Journal of Mundane Behavior. Hosted by the Department of
Sociology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State
University, Fullerton, the JMB is a 鈥渟cholarly journal devoted to the
study of the `unmarked鈥欌�攖hose aspects of our everyday lives that typically
go unnoticed by us, both as academics and as everyday individuals鈥�.
In an introductory essay, Scott Schafer notes that: 鈥淢ost of us don鈥檛 lead
Jerry Springer lives.鈥� He goes on: 鈥淭he editors of Journal of
Mundane Behavior believe that the everyday, the earthly, the worldly
represents a part of what is sacred about our lives; and yet . . . all we get is
the outlandish, the extraordinary, the distinguished.鈥�
It sounds enthralling, doesn鈥檛 it? But before you get too excited, remember
that the journal is written by social scientists. Here, for example, is the
abstract of a paper on the behaviour of Japanese people in lifts:
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鈥淓levator space in Japan is considered both as an example of transit space
generally and as an example of the practice of a particular national identity.
The paper argues that there is an intimate relationship between the social
script outside the elevator and variations possible on this script inside the
elevator. In Japan, these variations serve to express the improvisational,
private character of personal interaction possible inside elevators, over
against the fixed, public character of behavior outside them.鈥�
If this kind of writing appeals to you, you can find more at www.mundane
behavior.org/index2.htm.
Meanwhile, after the many examples of a related phenomenon we have published
in this column, Feedback is now thinking of launching a magazine called
Journal of the Blindingly Obvious.
TALKING of which, a few days ago Alan Hickman received a pamphlet from Welsh
Water with this advice: 鈥淲orking out how much water you use. If you read your
meter every month, the amount of water you use in a month is equal to the
present reading minus last month鈥檚 reading. The amount of water you use should
be about the same each month. If you use extra water because, for example you
have visitors or you use a hosepipe, your meter reading will go up. If you use
less water because, for example, you go away on holiday, the amount of water you
use will go down.鈥�
Yes, indeed.
AND how about this headline from the online science news agency EurekAlert!:
鈥淪moking cessation aids help smokers to quit.鈥�
Hands up who鈥檚 surprised.
WHO are the phantom snorers? The Canberra Times recently printed a
story from Reuters about a new study into snoring. It ended by informing
readers: 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 women who suffer most. Men make up 44 per cent of regular
snorers, compared to just 28 per cent for women.鈥�
So who are the other 28 per cent of regular snorers? Hermaphrodites?
EARLIER this month (1 April), we wondered about the meaning of the seminar
title 鈥淗edgehog Signalling and Muscle Cell Type Specification in the Zebrafish鈥�.
Neuroembryology student Low Hu Liang has written to enlighten us. Here is what
he says:
鈥淭he Hedgehog that you refer to in your article is a gene involved in the
patterning of the neural plate and then the neural tube, the precursors of the
central nervous system. The mammalian equivalent of Drosophila Hedgehog
(Hh) is known as Sonic Hedgehog (Shh).
鈥淣euroembryology and molecular pathology are littered with these curiously
named genes and gene products. There are Numb, Notch, Oskar, Nanos, Cerberus,
Noggin, Patched, Smoothened and Minifin. Two molecules involved in programmed
cell death (apoptosis) have been named Harakiri and Bad. An axonal
growth-impeding molecule is known as Nogo.
鈥淭he naming of these molecules may reflect the state of mind of their
discoverers. Some may have had an uplifting experience at the theatre (Miranda,
Prospero). One wonders what led to the naming of Cubitus Interruptus.
鈥淔inally, bearing in mind that the isolation of these molecules takes many
hundreds (or thousands) of back-breaking and tedious hours, is it any wonder
that some molecules have been called Dishevelled, Frazzled and Shaggy? There are
accounts of a yet-to-be published axon guidance molecule tentatively called
Pissoffin, while an unidentified chemo-attractant of the maxillary nerve is
known as Max Factor.
鈥淲ho says scientists lack a sense of humour?鈥�
THIS magazine鈥檚 short piece in the Patents column on 1 April (p 7), which
revealed that Pfizer has been developing a Viagra inhaler, certainly excited the
tabloid press. But no one yet seems to have asked the simple question raised the
other day by one of Feedback鈥檚 neighbours: What happens if someone with a warped
sense of humour puffs the spray into a confined space such as a crowded train?