From the folks who bring you the IgNobel prizes, 30 pages of thinking person’s fun, including a 3-page paper on “Popcorn-Bag-Induced Disorientation in a Gull” and another about frog foursomes.
The “Animal Oddities” issue also includes boozing mice, IgNobel-inspired limericks and the citation of the paper on diarrhea by Dr. Loo.
AIR offers a “cheesy low-res PDF” for free online, a “beautiful high-res PDF” for $5 and six-issue, hard copy subscriptions for $39.
From the seagull paper:
Based upon the circumstances and the position of the bag over the bird’s head during the flight, I conclude that the crash was due to spatial disorientation, which is most simply defined as loss of or confusion about one’s position with regard to roll, pitch, and yaw relative to the force of gravity.
Among human pilots, flight in situations where the horizon is not visible or discernable due to obscuration as a result of fog, dark night, clouds, or other factors predisposes to the occurrence of disorientation. It accounts for a significant percentage of fatal general aviation crashes annually.
Birds, however, have been documented as being capable of flight in conditions (referred to as “instrument meteorological conditions”) that would require human pilots to use instruments. Some of these cases were observed via radar2. Other cases, reported to the National Wildlife Strike Database, involve aircraft making physical contact with birds.3 while flying in clouds, fog, or rain. European starlings (Sternus vulgaris) have been experimentally demonstrated to be able to maintain straight and level flight in complete darkness within a wind tunnel for durations as long as one minute.
If you missed the recent IgNobels, here are the winners and here is a link to the a video of the recent 2011 ceremony.