Annals of Improbable Research

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2011 (volume 17, number 1)

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Missing Pieces

Missing puzzle pieces,
Missing sculpture bits,
Holes in the front cover…

Contents

The features marked with a star (*) are based entirely on material taken straight from standard research (and other Official and Therefore Always Correct) literature. Many of the other articles are genuine, too, but we don’t know which ones.

Special Section:Missing Pieces

Missing Pieces Research Review* — Bertha Vanatian
The Pathology of Classical Sculpture * — Sam Shuster

Improbable Research

Automatic Citation [2009] — James McCann

Improbable Research Reviews*

May We Recommend: Unsolvable-Problem Drinking* — Stephen Drew
Improbable Research Review* — Dirk Manley
Improbable Medical Review* — Bertha Vanatian
PubMed Goes to the Movies (Part 3)* — Robert E. Pyatt
Icky Cutesy Research Review* — Alice Shirrell Kaswell
Soft Is Hard* — Alice Shirrell Kaswell and Bissell Mango
Boys Will Be Boys* — Katherine Lee
Ig® and Beyond* — Nan Swift

News & Notes

AIR Vents (letters from our readers)
AIR Books
Teachers’ Guide
Puzzling Solutions — Emil Filterbag
Editorial Board
Back Issues
Ig® Nobel Limericks: Viagra, Rats, Flame* — Martin Eiger
XKCD: “Seat Selection” — Randall Munroe
Plucked From Obscurity: A Urinal in the Shower* — Marina Tsipis
KIM CARTOON: Invention of the Printing Process” — Nick Kim
Unclassified Ads

On the Front Cover

A close, if slanted, look at some of the non-missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that’s based on an Ellen Rixford painting. Photo: A.S. Kaswell / Improbable Research

On the Back Cover

A toe, possibly human. Photo: S. Drew / Improbable Research.

Coming Events

February 19, 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, USA
March 2011 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK
April 2011 Edinburgh Science Festival
April 2011 Cambridge (MA) Science Festival
June 2011 Cairo, Egypt
September 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
September 29, 2011 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
October 1, 2011 Ig Informal Lectures
November 2011 Ig Nobel Scandinavia Tour