![\"New](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/28143843\/SEI_206444422.jpg?width=1200\")
<\/div>Head in the sand<\/h2>\n
The known risks \u2013 corporate, financial, personal, sexual \u2013 of starting an ostrich farm are perhaps not so well known in New England as in old England.<\/p>\n
The Boston Globe<\/i> profiled an entrepreneur who has begun raising ostriches in New Hampshire, a small state in New England. \u201cMove over filet mignon,\u201d says the headline,<\/a> \u201cmeet the man who wants to make ostrich meat a staple.\u201d The article then goes on to say how \u201cA self-described \u2018city boy\u2019 created an ostrich farm in rural N.H\u201d.<\/p>\n The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize in biology was awarded to Norma Bubier, Charles Paxton, Phil Bowers and D. Charles Deeming, for their report \u201cCourtship behaviour of ostriches<\/a> (Struthio camelus<\/i>) towards humans under farming conditions in Britain\u201d.<\/p>\n The four researchers had been asked to investigate why ostriches at British farms were failing to produce enough baby ostriches. Careful observation made clear what was happening: ostriches hatched on British farms often found their two-armed companions to be more sexually attractive than their two-winged companions.<\/p>\n Feedback has learned, from conversations with one of the scientists, that some of the ostriches showed a special yearning for that particular scientist. Feedback sends good wishes, along with what Americans call \u201chopes and prayers\u201d, to the New Hampshire farmer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Praewpat Pachimsawat, Manita Tammayan, Thi Kim Anh Do and Nattinee Jantaratnotai devised a fairly simple way to deliver aroma to dental students. Opting not to infuse an entire room with a general miasma, they sought to achieve \u201cpersonal coffee aroma distribution\u201d.<\/p>\n Personal coffee aroma distribution, desirable though it is, wasn\u2019t the ultimate purpose. This project had a different, clearly stated goal: \u201c[We] aimed to investigate the potential reduction of academic stress related to a graded oral presentation in postgraduate dental students using coffee aromatherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n The story appears in the study \u201cThe use of coffee aroma for stress reduction in postgraduate dental students\u201d<\/a>. One photo caption gives the essence of what the team did: \u201cCoffee essential oil (1 mL) was dropped onto a cotton pad at 5:100 concentration and placed near the nose with a lanyard and a personal fan to help distribute the aroma.\u201d<\/p>\n The caption to a subsequent photo conveys some of the project\u2019s drama: \u201cThe coffee essential oil was placed around a mannequin similar to an experimental setting with the tube set at 20 cm from the coffee aroma source. The tube (A) for transferring the aroma was connected to the e-nose machine (B).\u201d The team reports a modicum of success in its stated aim.<\/p>\n Another reason dental students can feel stress becomes evident when one sees the title of the study \u201cInfluence of dental students\u2019 dietary habits on tooth color\u201d<\/a> by Ayse Tugba Erturk Avunduk, Hande Filiz and Esra Cengiz Yanarda\u011f.<\/p>\n They report making two discoveries: \u201cFemales have lighter teeth than males\u201d and \u201cThe increase in the amount of consumption of the evaluated staining beverages is one of the factors that cause the tooth colors to become darker\u201d.<\/p>\n Feedback congratulates the anonymous author of a news release from Brandon University in Canada for persuading their editor to run the item that bears this all-caps headline: \u201cBU PROF RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH ON ANTI-CIRCUMCISION DEBATES\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n The first sentence may have been irresistible once it entered the writer\u2019s mind. It says: \u201cA respected Brandon University professor known for his cutting-edge work studying masculinity has received major recognition for one of his recent academic articles.\u201d<\/p>\n Then come some technical details of interest to specialists: \u201c[Jonathan Allan\u2019s] article, \u2018Reading anti-circumcision [activism]<\/a> in Clothed with the Sun: The Quarterly Journal of Clothes-Optional Living\u2019 \u2026 analyzes a debate about circumcision that unfolded in a nudist magazine, beginning with a 1986 article arguing for a natural foreskin as well as the letters to the editor that followed.\u201d Then come some words of praise from the editor who published Allan\u2019s research: \u201cJonathan\u2019s work impressed us all because it is well-written and well-researched, and a great example of how to explain complex issues for a broad range of readers.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, at the end, come some clarifying words for laypersons keen to read the study and learn more: \u201cPlease note that the article discusses and includes images about nudity and male genitals.\u201d<\/p>\n Feedback savours the panoply of emotions delivered to television viewers by an ad campaign<\/a> for a drug that has the non-evocative name Bimzelx.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people got 100 per cent clear skin\u201d, says a voice-over, preparing us for the drama that arrives seconds later when a second voice-over adds: \u201cSerious side effects, including suicidal thoughts and behaviour, infections and lower ability to fight them, liver problems and inflammatory bowel disease, have occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n Marc Abrahams created the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and\u00a0co-founded\u00a0the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Earlier, he worked on unusual ways to use computers. His website is\u00a0<\/em>improbable.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Got a story for Feedback?<\/b><\/p>\n You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com<\/a>. Please include your home address. This week\u2019s and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nCoffee aromatherapy<\/h2>\n
Dental stress<\/h2>\n
Circumcision for nudists<\/h2>\n
Pharma drama<\/h2>\n