READERS with a taste for the banal may be interested in a new online
magazine, the Journal of Mundane Behavior. Hosted by the Department of
Sociology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State
University, Fullerton, the JMB is a “scholarly journal devoted to the
study of the `unmarked’—those aspects of our everyday lives that typically
go unnoticed by us, both as academics and as everyday individuals”.
In an introductory essay, Scott Schafer notes that: “Most of us don’t lead
Jerry Springer lives.” He goes on: “The editors of Journal of
Mundane Behavior believe that the everyday, the earthly, the worldly
represents a part of what is sacred about our lives; and yet . . . all we get is
the outlandish, the extraordinary, the distinguished.”
It sounds enthralling, doesn’t it? But before you get too excited, remember
that the journal is written by social scientists. Here, for example, is the
abstract of a paper on the behaviour of Japanese people in lifts:
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“Elevator space in Japan is considered both as an example of transit space
generally and as an example of the practice of a particular national identity.
The paper argues that there is an intimate relationship between the social
script outside the elevator and variations possible on this script inside the
elevator. In Japan, these variations serve to express the improvisational,
private character of personal interaction possible inside elevators, over
against the fixed, public character of behavior outside them.”
If this kind of writing appeals to you, you can find more at www.mundane
behavior.org/index2.htm.
Meanwhile, after the many examples of a related phenomenon we have published
in this column, Feedback is now thinking of launching a magazine called
Journal of the Blindingly Obvious.
TALKING of which, a few days ago Alan Hickman received a pamphlet from Welsh
Water with this advice: “Working out how much water you use. If you read your
meter every month, the amount of water you use in a month is equal to the
present reading minus last month’s reading. The amount of water you use should
be about the same each month. If you use extra water because, for example you
have visitors or you use a hosepipe, your meter reading will go up. If you use
less water because, for example, you go away on holiday, the amount of water you
use will go down.”
Yes, indeed.
AND how about this headline from the online science news agency EurekAlert!:
“Smoking cessation aids help smokers to quit.”
Hands up who’s surprised.
WHO are the phantom snorers? The Canberra Times recently printed a
story from Reuters about a new study into snoring. It ended by informing
readers: “And it’s women who suffer most. Men make up 44 per cent of regular
snorers, compared to just 28 per cent for women.”
So who are the other 28 per cent of regular snorers? Hermaphrodites?
EARLIER this month (1 April), we wondered about the meaning of the seminar
title “Hedgehog Signalling and Muscle Cell Type Specification in the Zebrafish”.
Neuroembryology student Low Hu Liang has written to enlighten us. Here is what
he says:
“The Hedgehog that you refer to in your article is a gene involved in the
patterning of the neural plate and then the neural tube, the precursors of the
central nervous system. The mammalian equivalent of Drosophila Hedgehog
(Hh) is known as Sonic Hedgehog (Shh).
“Neuroembryology and molecular pathology are littered with these curiously
named genes and gene products. There are Numb, Notch, Oskar, Nanos, Cerberus,
Noggin, Patched, Smoothened and Minifin. Two molecules involved in programmed
cell death (apoptosis) have been named Harakiri and Bad. An axonal
growth-impeding molecule is known as Nogo.
“The naming of these molecules may reflect the state of mind of their
discoverers. Some may have had an uplifting experience at the theatre (Miranda,
Prospero). One wonders what led to the naming of Cubitus Interruptus.
“Finally, bearing in mind that the isolation of these molecules takes many
hundreds (or thousands) of back-breaking and tedious hours, is it any wonder
that some molecules have been called Dishevelled, Frazzled and Shaggy? There are
accounts of a yet-to-be published axon guidance molecule tentatively called
Pissoffin, while an unidentified chemo-attractant of the maxillary nerve is
known as Max Factor.
“Who says scientists lack a sense of humour?”
THIS magazine’s short piece in the Patents column on 1 April (p 7), which
revealed that Pfizer has been developing a Viagra inhaler, certainly excited the
tabloid press. But no one yet seems to have asked the simple question raised the
other day by one of Feedback’s neighbours: What happens if someone with a warped
sense of humour puffs the spray into a confined space such as a crowded train?
