Nerd News

by Ethan Rusin

This article begins a new kind of reporting in the Technolog: odd news for your cranial selves. It is my intent to provide a little bit of spice to the Technolog through the reporting of completely true and scientifically sound and proven aspects of our natural world that may otherwise go unnoticed by the both the scientific and general public at large. So, read on (please), share it with your friends, and stay curious.

Soccer-shaped universe?

The universe just so happens to be shaped like a soccer ball. Back in early October, CNN reported that a researcher by the name of Jeffrey Weeks, a MacArthur Fellow who bases his work out of Canton, New York, joined forces with researchers from the University of Paris and the Observatory of Paris. Together they studied astronomical data that suggested to them that the universe is finite and made of curved pentagons joined together into a sphere, which is not unlike an everyday soccer ball.

The scientific collaboration got their data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which is used to map background radiation still remaining from the Big Bang.

"Since antiquity, humans have wondered whether our universe is finite or infinite," says Weeks. "Now, after more than two millennia of speculation, observational data might finally settle the ancient question".

Cowgases

What is one of the surprisingly larger, naturally occurring deterrent to ozone preservation? Well, according to planetsave.com, the 'collective breathing of cows accounts for nearly 20 percent of the methane gas released into the atmosphere.' Most of the methane that Bessie creates is made in her rumen, which is the first of her four stomachs. It is here, in the rumen, that the methane gets its first opportunity to get into the cow's bloodstream and exits through the lungs via exhalation and belching.

To decrease the percent contribution by Bessie and her bovine horde (which is said to be 100 to 150 gallons of methane gas a day), scientists at the University of Nebraska have decided to create an additive for the cattle's feed that they hope will hinder the cow's ability to produce methane in their digestive system. Nebraska scientists have tested roughly 200 feed additive compounds as of June 13, 2003 (the date of the article's publishing) and 10 have of those compounds have been successful enough to be tested on fluid extracted from the rumen of a cow.

``Of those, about 20 to 30 percent are indeed doing what we expect them to do,'' University of Nebraska biochemistry professor Stephen Ragsdale said. ``We're honing in on what would be perfect.''

Math + baseball = better players?

Sabermetrics, as defined by professor James H. Albert of Bowling Green University is 'the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball records'. Recently, the Boston Red Sox hired the founder of sabermetrics, Bill James, to help rid them of the famed curse of the Bambino.
Sabermetrics itself focuses more on hundreds of formulas that combine batting average and RBI numbers with other stats such as hits, walks and outs, instead of statistics such as batting averages and RBIs to determine a player's value. A sample calculation is found below:

Calculation of yearly a player's "win shares" metric:

1. [(Hits + Walks) x Total Bases]/(At Bats + Walks) = Runs Created (RC)

2. Divide hitter's outs by 12, then subtract from RC.

3. Divide total by 3 to calculate a player's total hitting "win shares."

4. Add another point to player's win shares for playing a certain number of games (based on position: catcher, 24 games; first base, 76; second base, 28; third base, 38; shortstop, 25; outfield, 48).

Sadly, the science was not able to overturn The Curse of the Bambino. So, maybe next year the Sox will turn to witchcraft, perhaps, in the hopes that the black arts will see their club to the World Series. You never know. If trading the Ruth-meister can doom a club to historical disparity, why can't a reading of chicken bones save it?

Antithesis of the Nobels

Every October, to coincide with the Nobel Prizes, the science magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) holds an awards ceremony of it's own, at which the Ig Nobel prizes are awarded to scientists whose 'achievements.. cannot or should not be reproduced'. For example, this past October 2nd, at Harvard's Sanders Theatre, the 2003 winners were announced.

Among the winners of the the Ig nobel was a team of physics professors from the University of Ballarat in Australia that completed research on 'an analysis of forces required to drag sheep over various surfaces'. The Ig for medicine went to a team from the University College London for a report in which the team presented evidence that 'the brains of London taxi drivers are more highly developed than those of their fellow citizens'. Three other Ig awards that have also been deemed noteworthy are:

The Ig award for chemistry went to a Mr.Yukio Hirose for performing a chemical investigation of a bronze statue, in the Japanese city of Kanazawa, that failed to attract pigeons.

The Ig award for economics went to 'Karl Schwärzler and the nation of Liechtenstein for making it possible to rent the entire country for corporate conventions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other gatherings'. It should be noted that Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country in the world and is sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland.

Finally, the Ig award for biology went to C.W. Moeliker, of Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for making and documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos).

These winners, as well as past winners up to 1991 can be found at http://www.improbable.com/.

Fuel guy

The French have done it again. Common man by day, inventor-extraordinaire by night, a Frenchman by the name of Guy Negre has made the claim that he has invented and created a car that uses air as it's primary fuel source. Little odd? Yes. Impossible? Mr. Negre does not think so.

"The invention is in the engine. The invention is in the industrial process. ... This technology is based on a rotation system exploited by cars which use natural gas. It is used even by people who work with combustion fuel. Hydrogen under pressure systems and even the tanks of a fireman's air reserve are based on this technology," Negre says.

According to Mr. Negre, no fuel, in the conventional sense, is necessary to power the car. As long as there readily available air for the engine to take in, it will be able to progress forward at speeds up to 70mph.

Do not think for a moment that this was the kind of invention that came to Mr. Negre in a dream last month. Quite the contrary, he has been working on it since 1997 and since then has been awarded more than 30 patents to keep his idea safe.

Thoughtful attraction

Don't worry ladies if hot Paul does not ask you out when you think it's appropriate to do so. Turns out he may see you, but his brain sense you. Don't worry, I will explain.

According to research done by our badger brethren to the east, a great deal of thought goes into choosing mates. This was done and verified through the use of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) of the brains of Brazillian marmoset monkeys.

"We were surprised to observe high levels of neural activity in areas of the brain important for decision-making, as well as in purely sexual arousal areas, in response to olfactory cues," psychology professor Charles Snowdon said in a statement. "Lighting up far more brightly than we expected were areas associated with decision-making and memory, emotional processing and reward, and cognitive control."

According to the report submitted to the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the scanned monkey brains became extra busy when the monkeys smelled sexy scents. Take note ladies, perfume helps attract hot Paul or at least his brain.

Prof. Snowdon's team tested four male marmosets, had them sniff gland secretion samples from females at or close to ovulation. Prof. Snowdon and his team also let the monkeys smell samples from females whose ovaries had been removed (i.e. "not fertile and, presumably, not sexy"). Tip #2 for the ladies: uh… I don't want to get in trouble with anyone, so ladies, interpret this previous paragraph how ever you want.

After gathering their information from the tests, the researchers were able to see how much more the monkeys' brains lit up when they smelled the samples from fertile females. Specifically, the parts of the monkeys' brains that dealt with complex, cognitive reasoning and sexual 'thought'(?) lit up a great deal.

"This is the first time anyone has imaged an awake nonhuman primate in response to emotionally arousing stimuli. It is also the first link between external sexual odors and the internal sexual arousal system," Snowdon said. "This opens up a whole new field of research possibilities." And a whole new area of employment opportunities for Brazilian marmosets everywhere. It may be racist, but who's going to trust the nose of an American monkey?

Web-sites from which the above information was found

1) http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/01/23/air.car/index.html
2) http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,517876,00.html
3) http://www.planetsave.com/ViewStory.asp?ID=4047
4) http://www.improbable.com/