April 1st doing its thing !

[Valentin Albillo]

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Hi, all,

Once again, April 1st is getting us a number of playful fake news, scholar papers, the works !

Just for instance, have a look at these joke papers released today and disguised as serious research, I spotted them in Arxiv's Earth and Planetary Astrophysics section. This first one is hilarious:

UFOs: Just Hot Air or Something Meteor ?
By Michael B. Lund1, 1 Caltech/IPAC-NExScI editor@actaprimaaprilia.com
Acta Prima Aprilia • April 2023 • Vol. IX

Here's another awesome one, look at the graphics and their captions !
On the Planetary Theory of Everything

Ditto ! ...
A Modest Proposal for the Non-existence of Exoplanets: The Expansion of Stellar Physics to Include Squars

The Figure 2 at page 3 strongly reminds me of my fractal image Monolith.

V.

[Gil]

Try Chat GPT for creating some nice, quite convincing news for today's fool day.

[NASA Announces Successful Launch of Revolutionary Spacecraft"

NASA successfully launched a revolutionary spacecraft early this morning, marking a major milestone in space exploration. The spacecraft, named the "Starfinder," is equipped with cutting-edge technology that will allow it to detect and analyze the composition of exoplanets, potentially paving the way for the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

The Starfinder was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 5:00 am local time, and quickly achieved orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft will spend the next several weeks undergoing extensive testing and calibration before embarking on its mission to explore the universe.

According to NASA officials, the Starfinder's advanced imaging systems will enable it to capture high-resolution images of distant exoplanets, allowing scientists to study their atmospheres and determine whether they may be capable of supporting life. The spacecraft is also equipped with a sophisticated suite of instruments designed to detect and analyze the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres, which could provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of planets outside our solar system.

The launch of the Starfinder represents a major step forward in our understanding of the universe and our place within it. With its advanced technology and powerful instruments, this spacecraft has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of exoplanets and the potential for extraterrestrial life.

Some additional details and figures to provide more information about the Starfinder spacecraft:

The Starfinder is a joint project between NASA and several international space agencies, including the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The spacecraft is approximately the size of a small car, measuring 4 meters in height and 3 meters in width.

The Starfinder is equipped with a powerful 3.5-meter telescope, which will allow it to capture images of exoplanets with unprecedented clarity. The telescope is capable of detecting planets as small as Earth orbiting stars up to 100 light-years away.

The spacecraft is also equipped with a suite of advanced instruments, including a spectrometer and a photometer, which will enable it to analyze the chemical composition and temperature of exoplanet atmospheres. The spectrometer is capable of detecting the presence of key chemical elements such as oxygen, carbon, and methane, which could provide clues about the potential for life on other planets.

The Starfinder's mission is expected to last at least five years, during which time it will survey hundreds of exoplanets and provide valuable data to scientists around the world. The project is estimated to cost around $1.5 billion, with funding provided by NASA and its international partners.

NASA officials have hailed the launch of the Starfinder as a major milestone in the search for extraterrestrial life. With its advanced technology and powerful instruments, the spacecraft has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe and our place within it.


"Breakthrough Study Reveals Promising Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease"

A new study published in the journal Science has revealed a promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease, a debilitating condition that affects millions of people worldwide. The study, which was conducted by a team of international researchers, found that a drug called Aducanumab can significantly reduce the progression of Alzheimer's disease in patients.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brain. This protein forms clumps called plaques, which are believed to contribute to the development of the disease. There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease, and available treatments are only able to alleviate symptoms temporarily.

In the study, researchers administered Aducanumab to a group of patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. The drug works by targeting and removing beta-amyloid plaques from the brain, which has been shown to slow the progression of the disease in preclinical studies.

After a year of treatment, researchers found that patients who received the highest dose of Aducanumab experienced a significant reduction in beta-amyloid plaques in the brain. Additionally, patients who received the drug showed a slower rate of cognitive decline compared to those who received a placebo.

The results of the study are highly promising and suggest that Aducanumab could be a breakthrough treatment for Alzheimer's disease. While further studies are needed to confirm the findings, the drug has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people who are affected by this devastating condition.

The development of Aducanumab is a major step forward in the fight against Alzheimer's disease and provides hope for the millions of people who suffer from this condition

[Valentin Albillo]

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These are good too, also from Arxiv:

Nuggets of Wisdom: Determining an Upper Limit on the Number Density of Chickens in the Universe

A Unified Nomenclature and Taxonomy for Planets, Stars, and Moons

The cosmic Galois group, the sunrise Feynman integral, and the relative completion of Γ1(6)

V.

[Gil]

Just the titles are promising.

Thanks.

[rprosperi]

(04-03-2023 04:30 AM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  .
These are good too, also from Arxiv:

Thanks for sharing these Valentin, quite entertaining, though I've only skimmed them so far! I'm amazed at the level of effort people expended in order to create these "papers", whose format, style and tone all feel quite genuinely "Academic Paper" level. In one sense their very presence in this format successfully parodies that well-established domain, seemingly their intent.

Have you read them closely enough to assess if the math and analysis contained in them is valid? I'd assume so, but that means even more time and effort was required, compounding the overall effort.

Your own efforts creating, documenting and sharing your challenges and papers is clearly of a similar scope, but I find they 'entertain' me in a more satisfying way than the humor in these papers. I suppose this is part of what makes me an HP Calculator Geek, and the good news is they come more often than once a year.

[BruceH]

(04-03-2023 12:58 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Have you read them closely enough to assess if the math and analysis contained in them is valid?

The maths in the UFO one at least is top-notch as the authors note, "Per Stack Exchange (as is the standard way to resolve most moderate math questions)..."

;-)

[Valentin Albillo]

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Hi, Bob,

(04-03-2023 12:58 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Thanks for sharing these Valentin, quite entertaining, though I've only skimmed them so far! I'm amazed at the level of effort people expended in order to create these "papers", whose format, style and tone all feel quite genuinely "Academic Paper" level.

Exactly my thoughts, it surely took their authors a lot of time and effort to concoct them, most definitely the 51-page (!!) "cosmic Galois ..." one.

Quote:Have you read them closely enough to assess if the math and analysis contained in them is valid? I'd assume so, but that means even more time and effort was required, compounding the overall effort.

I've read them with various degrees of closeness, as there are some with very little math and others like the aforementioned "cosmic Galois" one which feature 51 pages of densely-packed, complex-looking, effectively inscrutable math. The paper BruceH mentions is more amenable and for example, the definite integral in expressions (1) and (2) on page 4 are perfectly correct, so probably all the not-too-convoluted math is likely to be sound as well, indicating the extra effort put by the authors to give their creations an aspect of believability.

Quote:Your own efforts creating, documenting and sharing your challenges and papers is clearly of a similar scope, but I find they 'entertain' me in a more satisfying way than the humor in these papers. I suppose this is part of what makes me an HP Calculator Geek, and the good news is they come more often than once a year.

Why, thank you, you're too kind and I'm delighted to count with your appreciation. In the past I used to publish "April 1st" challenges which strived to feel impossible, too difficult or just plain jokes but were actually quite solvable, like the ones in

Sweet & Short Math Challenges #15: April 1st Spring Special

      and

Short & Sweet Math Challenge #18: April 1st, 2007 Spring Special

The latter was published on 4-01-2007 and includes the puzzling HP-71B-specific challenge "Find a root x of Abs(Ln(x*x)-Ln(x^2)) > 4.012007", which mystified a lot of people, über-71B-expert J-F Garnier included ...

Best regards.
V.
Edit: speaking of following the math, this Arxiv PDF paper (published today, April 4th) is a riot !

On the Closed-Form Solution to the Interior Goat Problem in One Dimension

It even mentions the case of zero dimensions.