Advertisement

Weird Science Weekly: Science can help you get served first at the bar

File photo dated 13/08/13 of a pint of beer on a bar as talks aimed at averting the threat of disruption to deliveries of beers, lagers and soft drinks to pubs, clubs and thousands of other sites will be held today.

Weird science happens every day, all around us. This week, we have four of the weirdest examples, including such stories as science helping you get served at the bar, about whale earwax, goldfish with musical tastes and getting 'tasty' treats from a beaver's rear end...

Science can help you get served first at the bar

Researchers at Bielefeld University in Germany have cracked the body-language code that might move you to the front of the line at your favorite watering hole. While it might sound like they were conducting the study for, uhm, 'personal reasons', there was actually project driving the research — they're working on developing a robotic bartender. For the robot to work efficiently, it needs to recognize who's just shooting the breeze and who's trying to get a refill.

So when you head out to knock back a few this weekend, keep this in mind: the most successful tactic, used 95% of the time by people getting served, was to face the bar squarely and look at the bartender as you do. Sounds pretty obvious, but according to the research, if either signal was missing — say you were slipping in between other customers sideways or looking at a menu — the success rate for getting served dropped big time.

Waving at the bartender didn't work, either. Understandably, they probably don't appreciate that very much.

[ Related: WSW: King Richard III had royal roundworms ]

A whale's history painted in wax — earwax, that is.

Forget about reading tree rings. Researchers revealed this week that the blue whale keeps a record of its life and environment in its earwax. The animals produce wax throughout their lives — just like we do — laying down a new layer to the mound about every six months. The wax layers have different colours, based on what the whales are eating, what the state of the ocean is like where they are, and containing different hormone traces depending on where their are in their life cycles.

Scientists can then dissect the glob of wax and get the whale's life story, in handy six-month increments. The report in question only features one whale they were able to harvest wax from — a 12-year-old male that was killed by a boat and his 10-inch long wax mound. But it's still probably the most interesting use of earwax we've come up with lately.

Goldfish demonstrate refined musical tastes

If you've been subjecting your goldfish to the Top 40, they might have been rolling their eyes at you (if they can remember it happened, of course). A researcher in Japan has determined that goldfish, like some other animals, can actually distinguish between musical composers.

The fishy test subjects were trained to eat to the soothing sounds of Bach. When they later heard some tunes by Stravinsky, they showed no interest in the food — meaning they could probably tell the difference. Which, to be honest, is probably better than most of us could do without a little study. Subsequent tests showed they didn't seem to have a preference for either composer; I'm going to guess they probably most fondly remembered whichever one meant 'food'.

[ Related: WSW: Panda feces could be the key to efficient biofuel production ]

Swedes confirm: beaver secretions taste similar to vanilla

If civet poop coffee doesn't tantalize your taste buds anymore, the Swedish National Food Agency has good news for you. Apparently the beaver's backside can be a source of vanilla flavouring for baked goods. Our national animal's anal passage is home to castor sacs, which produce castoreum — a food additive with properties similar to the immensely-more popular vanillin.

It seems the beaver-based flavouring is of specific interest to the Swedes as castoreum was traditionally used to flavour the liqueur, Bäversnaps. Kinda figures there'd be alcohol involved in anything to do with food from beaver butts.

[ More Geekquinox: Study hints at possible third state of consciousness during surgery ]

Keep your eyes on the wonders of science, and if you spot anything particularly strange you'd like me to check out for next week, comment below or drop me a line on Twitter!

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

Geek out with the latest in science and weather.
Follow @ygeekquinox on Twitter!