Nit-picking literature
Little things bother some people. Elizabeth Kowaleski Wallace wonders why little things failed to bother Robinson Crusoe, the hero of Daniel Defoe鈥檚 1719 novel, who spent 28 years documenting his plight as a castaway on a tropical island.
鈥淸W]here are the mosquitos, the wasps, the worms, or the pests that should be ravaging Crusoe鈥檚 island?鈥� asks Wallace, pausing not at all before saying: 鈥淔or that matter, where are the beetles, the honeybees, or the ladybugs that would surely have formed a significant part of his island鈥檚 ecosystem?鈥�
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Wallace lays forth her suspicions, and muses on their significance, in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, in a paper called .
Wallace alleges that Crusoe must have encountered 鈥渁 number of pernicious critters, all eager to bore into his flesh鈥�. These would have included, she says, 鈥渟andflies, biting ants, and biting midges (鈥榥o see ums鈥�)鈥�. Wallace goes on to list a tormentor鈥檚 row of likely Crusoe companions: 鈥渂iting spiders鈥�, bedbugs, weevils, fleas, aphids, army worms, stink bugs and flies.
This novel, everything-but-nits-picking reading of Defoe鈥檚 novel exemplifies the drive evident in the best (but also, of course, in a few of the worst) literary critics and scientists.
Wrong cocktail
When is a cockatiel a cocktail? When it is a typographical error.
This particular error 鈥� Feedback trusts it is an error 鈥� occurs in a study called published in the Iranian journal Veterinary Research Forum.
It says: 鈥淚n two cockatiels in addition to regurgitation, grinding and throwing food out of the mouth, vomiting and diarrhea were also observed. In one of the cocktails all the symptoms (regurgitation, grinding, throwing food out of the mouth, vomiting, diarrhea, melena, undigested seeds in the dropping and bloody vomiting) were observed.鈥�
If you happen across an equally wonder-inducing, equally clear error in a scientific, medical or technical paper, please send reliable documentation of it to .
Baby radar
Adults who know that radar tracks aeroplanes and missiles might be delighted to learn that sometimes radar is used to track babies. Human infants.
Zheng Peng and his colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands took a look at the newest techno-methods for what is called 鈥溾��.
They distinguish four kinds of methods: 鈥渃amera-based, radar-based, mattress-based, and signal-reusing technologies鈥�. The last of those, as the name implies, interprets signals 鈥� sounds and whatnot 鈥� that are already being gathered from the infants.
鈥淩adar-based systems offer the advantage,鈥� says the report, 鈥渙f detecting large and subtle motions regardless of light conditions.鈥� But, it mentions, 鈥渃ertain limitations need to be addressed鈥�. Specifically: 鈥淩adar systems can be vulnerable to noise鈥� Furthermore, the safety of using electromagnetic radiation with infants needs to be further investigated.鈥� These and additional problems lead the team to offer this judgement: 鈥淒ue to the limited research available on radar-based infant motion detection, its suitability is still uncertain.鈥�
As to mattresses鈥� Mattress-based technology goes by a lovely name 鈥� 鈥渂allistography鈥�. Infant ballistography is, in essence, the study of forces generated by a baby鈥檚 body. Parents, always, have conducted ballistographic research.
Technologists intend to one-up the parents. Peng鈥檚 team give an example: 鈥淢attress-based sensing technologies utilize [ballistocardiography] sensors to measure the pressure generated by infants, including their body motion, chest motion, and heartbeats.鈥�
But the race to superiority has, up to this point, been dominated by the parents. Here, too, an example makes clear what the technologists are up against: 鈥淭he sensitivity of the mattress is primarily restricted to motion perpendicular to it, with limited sensitivity to motion parallel to the mattress.鈥�
Generously lettered
Astronomers are known as a generous bunch. Astronomer Virginia Trimble was moved by the implied plight of the unnamed person, mentioned in Feedback on 15 July, who is known to list these credentials with his signature: BSc (Honors), MASc, PhD, MTMS, MGDMB, MCIM, MSME, MAIST, MISIJ, MSigmaXi, MIFAC, MACS, MASM, MMRS, MACerS, MECS.
Trimble writes: 鈥淗e is missing (at least) one distinction: Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Organization) for about the last five years has elected from among its thousands of members (MSigmaXi) about a dozen fellows each year, entitled to sign themselves as FSX (Fellow of Sigma Xi). If only I knew who that MASc, PhD, etc was, I would be happy to nominate him for Fellowship, as soon as I rotate off the Sigma Xi fellowship committee. Yours sincerely, Virginia Trimble (FSX, etc).鈥�
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Marc Abrahams created the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and聽co-founded聽the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Earlier, he worked on unusual ways to use computers. His website is聽.