For thirteen years I have surprised, amused, inspired or shocked a wide audience with the story of my necro-duck. This may well be over soon. Why? Well, my classic improbable observation is surpassed. Nico de Bruyn, a zoologist at the Mammal Research Institute of the University Pretoria, witnessed together with Cheryl A. Tosh and Marthan […]
Month: May 2008
Hooray for Miller for Miller
PRESS RELEASE Publication Date: May 7, 2008 New York, NY — May 7, 2008. The American Council on Science and Health today presents the first Henry I. Miller Award for Excellence in Public Health Education to Dr. Henry Miller, research fellow at the Hoover Institution. So says a press release issued by the American Council […]
Mr. Buckley’s exploding trousers
Richard Buckley’s exploding trousers propelled James Watson to fame. Except for the initial burst of flames, there was nothing quick about the process – 74 years elapsed between Buckley’s wardrobe malfunction and Watson’s gaining an Ig Nobel prize for his careful analysis of the cause and significance of the incident. Watson is head of Massey […]
ECONOMICS LESSON: The cost of antlers in flight
Passengers With Antlers Will Pay More Frontier Airlines, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said on Friday it would increase the charge for taking antlers on its planes to $100, from $75. Frontier, based in Colorado, is the latest airline to announce new fees in an attempt to counter the cost of record oil prices, […]
Think, period
This week we learned that open-access research is serious business. Recently, our magazine — the Annals of Improbable Research — went “open access”. We now put all our content online free, and are gradually adding the content from past issues, too. Librarians, ever more squeezed for funds, had been urging us to do this. And […]
May mini-AIR
The May issue of mini-AIR just went out. Topics include: Questions About Victor Vroom; Dead Duck Day is Coming; Questions About Sam Speed; Most-Plagiarized Paper Project; Questions About Quentin Quick; Seriously Open Access; Old Intestines Poet; Swedish Crisp Bread Salivation Competition; The Power of Debugging; BLOGLIGHTS: Not Even Wrong, Bozo and the Bush; Vacuum Caution, […]
Keynote Address: John Trinkaus
This keynote speech was delivered at the Fourteenth First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, on September 30, 2004, at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. The theme of that year’s ceremony was: Diet. John Trinkaus is Professor Emeritus at the Zicklin School of Business, New York City. He was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Literature Prize for […]
The Alfred Hitchcock strawberry
This photo shows a strawberry, found in Salem, Massachusetts, that resembles the profile of film director Alfred Hitchcock. The inset photo show the classic Hitchcock profile. (PHOTO: Jesse Eppers.) (That’s an excerpt from AIR 14:3. A glorious large version of the photo appears on the magazine’s back cover.)
Deborah Pearsall joins LFHCfS
Evann Souza has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Kris Gremillion, who nominated her, says: Dr. Deborah Pearsall’s hair is both luxuriant and flowing should be clearly apparent from the accompanying photograph. Dr. Pearsall is a world-renowned expert in the field of paleoethnobotany. She and her hair ? a constant companion ? have […]
April in Paris, more or less
Investigator Gary Dryfoos saw the discussion about April in Paris, and offers a non-dialectical analysis: “Scientifically speaking, exactly what makes April in Paris delightful?” Well you know, the song “April in Paris” has let down a lot of tourists who find the weather kind of damp and crappy. May is much nicer, downright lovely. Lyricist […]