What is Improbable Research?
Improbable Research makes people laugh, and then makes them think.
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VIDEO: Watch the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony (click on the picture). |
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Here's info about:
- The magazine
- The Ig Nobel Prizes
- Things we do
- Why we do it
- Who we are (and specifically, our staff and editorial board)
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- Submission guidelines
- What others say
- How to contact us
The Magazine
The Annals of Improbable
Research (AIR)
is a magazine printed on genuine paper, and also in digital
form on the web. It's packed with genuine, improbable
research culled from more than 20,000 science, medical, and technical, and
academic journals. We also publish original research, and some concoctions.
(ISSN: 1079-5146 for the print version, 1935-6862 for the digital version.)
Here are submission
guidelines.
Here are some classic
articles.
The Ig Nobel Prizes
We administer the Ig Nobel Prizes, given each year for achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think.
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VIDEO: Watch an Improbable show in London (click on the picture). The image here shows Nature editor-in-chief Philip Campbell and chemist Fiona Barclay going finger-to-nose during the Great Inertia Debate, a featured (though brief) part of the show at Imperial College London, March 2007. |
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Things We Do
Our publications and activities include:
- the magazine (every 2 months)
- the monthly newsletter
- the weekly newspaper column
- the daily blog
- the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
- the live shows
- the books
Why We Do It
Our goal is to make people laugh, then make them think. We also hope to spur people's curiosity, and to raise the question: How do you decide what's important and what's not, and what's real and what's not -- in science and everywhere else?
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but, 'That's funny..." --Isaac Asimov
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." --Sherlock Holmes
Who We Are
Staff: Our staff consists of Editor Marc Abrahams, European Bureau Chief Kees Moeliker, and other improbable individuals. Mostly, Improbable Research is a happy, open conspiracy of many volunteers in many countries.
Editorial Board: Our editorial board consists of fifty-odd eminent scientists, doctors, etc. from around the world, including several Nobel Prize winners and a convicted felon.
Improbable Research is produced by the people who founded and organize the annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. (We are also the very same people who from 1955-1994 founded and edited the Journal of Irreproducible Results. In 1994, when the Journal's publisher decided to abandon the magazine, we decided to abandon that publisher. Unable to get use of the old name, we started a brand new publication -- the Annals of Improbable Research. And yes, we are AIRheads.)
Offices: Improbable Research is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In 2006 the Improbable Research European Bureau opened in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
What Others Say
Our press clippings are numerous. Dip in for some enjoyable reading. Here is a tiny sampling: Wired, Nature Network, The Age, CBS Sunday Morning News [with video], Wired News, The California Tech, El Commercio, The Times Higher Education Supplement, Sport et Vie, The Wall Street Journal, The Star, The Rocky Mountain News, Universum, Journal of the American Medical Association, Alternet, MSNBC, USA Today,CBS News [with video], CNN [with video], Shargh, Velcro City Tourist Board, ....
