misc funnies

In a bout of webcrawling, I came across “the lighter side of science” that I thought I’d share. I’ll post links only to avoid any direct linkage issues (a lot of webcomics don’t like that).


First, from something on wikipedia, I was directed to webelements com… and I found a pretty funny cartoon on the manganese page.


So I say to myself, “Self,” I say, “I wonder if there are more cartoons like this!”


And at nearingzero.net, I find - there are!


Through nearingzero, I come to find there exists a site called Improbable Research, whose tagline is “Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.” “Self,” I say, “this is great!”


After some research that made me chuckle, then briefly consider (such as Application of cocaine to the nasal mucosa: a novel method.), I found a winner:


Israeli ‘clown therapy’ boosts fertility treatment birthrate!

  • Quote:
A team led by fertility expert Dr. Shevah Friedler at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center studied 186 women aged 25 to 40 over 10 months, all of whom were undergoing embryo transfer treatment. While half were simply given the treatment and nothing else, the other group was entertained by a clown for up to 15 minutes as they recuperated in bed after the treatment.

The results? 33 of the women who 'clowned' around became pregnant, compared to only 18 women in the control group. For the 60,000 American women who undergo IVF treamtent annually, the message is: don't worry, be happy.