You're nicked
Who says stuffy old journal editors can't have a bit of fun now and then? Apparently the British Medical Journal likes to ham it up every Christmas, lightening its worthy but otherwise staid publication with such gems as The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute. The study's results are as follows:
56 (80%) of the 70 teaspoons disappeared during the study. The half life of the teaspoons was 81 days. The half life of teaspoons in communal tearooms (42 days) was significantly shorter than for those in rooms associated with particular research groups (77 days). The rate of loss was not influenced by the teaspoons' value. The incidence of teaspoon loss over the period of observation was 360.62 per 100 teaspoon years. At this rate, an estimated 250 teaspoons would need to be purchased annually to maintain a practical institute-wide population of 70 teaspoons.Science, is there anything you can't teach us?
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