in which I am once again a published poet and add a notch to my nerd belt
So MIT and Harvard have a magazine and monthly e-newsletter of interesting/funny science called the Annals of Improbable Research (http://improbable.com). They're the guys that give out the ig-Nobel prizes. Each month in their newsletter they have a poetry contest: readers write limericks based on a research paper they link. The challenge was thus:
2009-07-10 Goose Down Train Track Competition
Goose down-inspired train track is the subject of this month's
limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that
illuminates the nature of this report:
"From Red Cells to Snowboarding: A New Concept for a Train
Track," Qianhong Wu, Yiannis Andreopoulos, and Sheldon Weinbaum,
Physical Review Letters, vol. 93, no. 194501, November 5, 2004.
(Thanks to Richard Wakeford for bringing this to our attention.)
The authors explain that:
"Feng and Weinbaum have shown that there is a remarkable dynamic
similarity between a red cell gliding on the endothelial surface
glycocalyx and a human snowboarding on fresh powder although they
differ in mass by 1015. The lift forces in each case are 4 orders
of magnitude greater than classical lubrication theory. Herein we
... show a feasibility of designing a train that can glide on a
track whose permeability and elastic properties are similar to
goose down."
This month's issue just came out, and my entry was selected! It just means I get a PDF of this month's issue, but I think it's pretty cool. Here's my entry:
The winner is INVESTIGATOR TONY VILA, who wrote:
I asked, "Wu, should I make the tracks wider
So my train can move more like a glider?
Or is narrow the way?
Weinbaum, what do you say?"
And they look up and both reply, "Eider."
I know eiderdown doesn't come from geese - it comes from the eider duck. Still, I am down with my victory :)
2009-07-10 Goose Down Train Track Competition
Goose down-inspired train track is the subject of this month's
limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that
illuminates the nature of this report:
"From Red Cells to Snowboarding: A New Concept for a Train
Track," Qianhong Wu, Yiannis Andreopoulos, and Sheldon Weinbaum,
Physical Review Letters, vol. 93, no. 194501, November 5, 2004.
(Thanks to Richard Wakeford for bringing this to our attention.)
The authors explain that:
"Feng and Weinbaum have shown that there is a remarkable dynamic
similarity between a red cell gliding on the endothelial surface
glycocalyx and a human snowboarding on fresh powder although they
differ in mass by 1015. The lift forces in each case are 4 orders
of magnitude greater than classical lubrication theory. Herein we
... show a feasibility of designing a train that can glide on a
track whose permeability and elastic properties are similar to
goose down."
This month's issue just came out, and my entry was selected! It just means I get a PDF of this month's issue, but I think it's pretty cool. Here's my entry:
The winner is INVESTIGATOR TONY VILA, who wrote:
I asked, "Wu, should I make the tracks wider
So my train can move more like a glider?
Or is narrow the way?
Weinbaum, what do you say?"
And they look up and both reply, "Eider."
I know eiderdown doesn't come from geese - it comes from the eider duck. Still, I am down with my victory :)