FEATURES

Stop That, Pleeaassse!

You’re at a live concert that’s costing you three months’ allowance. You’ve waited for this night all year and your favorite band is really groovin’. Somehow you’ve inched your way through the crowd to the front row, just as “the song” of the night begins. Wait. Oh no! The guy squished next to you is pulling out…his cell phone and…Ahhhh! This can’t be happening to you!
By Aaron Millar

The Most Annoying Person in the World
Maybe you’re on a family vacation. Or perhaps you’re headed over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house. Whatever the particular circumstances, you find that you’re trapped in a cramped backseat with “The Most Annoying Person in the World.” Your sibling knows exactly how to aggravate you, but your parents don’t understand what you two can’t get along. Tell them it’s a matter of science…and proxemics.
By Mary Beth Cox

Mimers
“It’s going to be close,” Dad yelled over the engine roar. “We’re almost down.” “Almost down, almost down,” mimicked Mime, my Ring-necked Parakeet. “Shut that bird up.” Dad glared back at us. “Bird up, bird up,” came Mime’s echo. Dad’s ears turned red. “Bad case of vasodilation,” I murmured to myself. It served as my warning not to complain. The fuel warning light started flashing the same color as Dad’s ears. Suddenly, there was sputtering and silence.
A short story by Daniel Varnell

Uncontrollably Annoying!
You’re on stage and everyone else in the chorus stops singing on cue…except you. By mistake, you sing the first three words of the next verse, and all eyes in the audience turn to focus on you. Your neck and cheeks heat up. There isn’t a thing you can do to stop your face from turning beet red, as perspiration drenches your forehead and your heart pounds wildly.
By R. Douglas Fields

What an Irritating Gift! Thank You, Dear!
It’s a special night for marine biologist Ira Tate. He’s about to give an extravagant gift to his fiancée, ichthyologist Ann Hoy…pearls! Is his gift simply the result of “annoying” an oyster?
By Nick D’Alto

ACTIVITIES

Do You Get the Feeling?


Can you read four emotional algorithms and figure out how to identify the emotion they code for?

Einstein: It’s Me...Call Back on My Cell Phone

An overheard cell phone call can be annoying. Now pretend that you are overhearing three great scientists’ cell phone conversations and see if you can match the scientist with his colleague and the theory they’re talking about!

By Nick D’Alto

The Rat Pack Researchers and the Annoy-a-Thon

Lots of sounds are annoying, but which are the most aggravating of all? Run your own Annoy-a-Thon at home, and see what you discover!

By Kathryn Hulick

DEPARTMENTS

Science Scoops
By Kathryn Hulick

Ask Dr. Cy Borg
Phineas Gage

Staying Healthy? It’s a Science!

How to Hold On To Your Goat: Odyssey Readers’ Annoyance Survival Guide

Try these tricks to lessen the impact of annoyance -- or to avoid it completely!


By Ruth Tenzer Feldman

e-Scape with O and Aarti: The Rumbler

The rumbler is a new kind of siren, designed to cut through the sound of thumping car stereos and other street noises…in a new way.

By Dan Risch

Skunk Doodle
Dive to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a tiny submarine!
By Karen Romano Young

You’ve Got Mail!
ODYSSEY's reader response department welcomes your letters, original poems, stories, drawings, and responses to questions!
E-mail odysseymagazine@caruspub.com with You’ve Got Mail! as the subject, or snail mail You’ve Got Mail, ODYSSEY
30 Grove St., Suite C
Peterborough, NH 03458

Consulting Editor
Randolph Blake is Centennial Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University and WCU Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Seoul National University. His work blends psychophysics, neural modeling, and brain imaging to study important aspects of perception, including binocular vision, motion perception, visual grouping, multisensory integration, and synesthesia. Over his career Blake has published 250 articles in major psychology and neuroscience journals, including 13 in Nature. Among a long list of awards, he won the coveted IgNobel Prize in 2006 for his research examining why nearly everyone cringes at the annoying sound of fingernails scraping on a chalkboard.