Improbable Research

We received a note from Elhassan Errezzaki of Anezi, Morocco. It says:

Could you please send me some copies of skeptic magazines or some similar skeptic magazines and books especially by James Randi , Carl Sagan  , Michael Shermer , Jared Diamond and Paul Kurtz . Used copies are also appreciated  .It’s hard to find them here in Morocco .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

Brief inquiry reveals that Mr. Errezzaki is a man of wide-ranging curiousity and correspondence:

Could you please send me some snailmail letters on different aspects of daily life , tourist attractions , travel adventures and picture in your fascinating country .It’s hard to find these information here in my remote village in Southern Morocco .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

and

Could you please send me some used copies of magazine and books on unexplained phenomena .It’s hard to find them here in my remote village in southern Morocco .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

and

Could you please send me some back issues of ‘PC World’ magazine or some similar magazines and books .It’s hard to find them here in Morocco .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

and

Could you please send me a copy of ‘ Where there is no Psychiatrist ‘or some similar popular psychology books .It’s hard to find them here in my remote village in Southern Morocco where superstition prevails .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

and

Could you please send me some used copies of magazines and books different philosophy issues .It’s hard to find them here my remote village in Southern Morocco .
my address is the following :
Mr. Elhassan Errezzaki
Douar Tarna Aday
Anezi 85100
MOROCCO

and many more.

Mr. Elhassan is also a winner of the the “Beautiful Guangxi” Knowledge Contest.

Investigator Rose Fox writes:

I saw this bit of scientific inquiry on http://www.metrolyrics.com/ and had to take a screencap:

I find it impressive that 27.4% of respondents—32,417 people—either don’t notice polls or hate them AND both noticed and answered this poll.

This week’s headline of the day is from BBC News:

Sex smell lures ‘vampire’ to doom

(Thanks to investigator Rose Fox for bringing it to our attention.)

The degree of legal peril in eating a poppy seed bagel, long rumoured and feared by the public, became clear only when two doctors conducted an experiment.

Elizabeth J Narcessian and HoJung Yoon, both at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, published their finding in a 1997 study called False-Positive Urine Drug Screen: Beware the Poppy Seed Bagel. It concerned a patient whose urine mysteriously tested positive for morphine.

“The patient denied any use of illicit substances and denied obtaining medication from any other sources. Her pharmacy confirmed that I [Narcessian] was the only doctor prescribing Schedule II medications [illegal/classified drugs]. The patient was then questioned about her diet. She reported that her diet consisted predominantly of oatmeal cereal and bagels….

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

Here’s the new episode — #115, “Toad toe tapping” — of the Improbable Research TV series. As the title implies but only half reveals, it concerns the curious case of the cane toad toe tappers.

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).

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.