Ten new Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The winners, and a description of their work, are included on the list of all Ig Nobel Prize winners (1991-2022). Each winner has done something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK. The faces you see in the image here […]
This video, made by iFaces in Pakistan, asks the plain question “What will happen if you fall into a pool of honey?” The answer it presents involves some Ig Nobel Prize-winning research about swimming:
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here’s how they begin: Holy nitpicking — Nitpicking often draws criticism, but Gérard Lucotte, Areki Izri and Thierry Thomasset didn’t let that deter them from publishing their sixth article in a series of keen looks at some old hairs…. Quantum Spirituality […]
Left and right and hobbies in Greece all existed for a long time before anyone took a long look into whether they might be connected or interrelated. That long look gets a writeup in the study: “Handedness and Hobby Preference,” O. Giotakos, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 98, no. 3, part 1, June 2004, pp. […]
I sent this note to the editors of the Somaliland news site Wargeyska Dawan: Dear editors, I learned from your news report today <https://wargeyskadawan.com/2022/10/24/abaal-marinta-farxadda-iyo-qosolka/> that I am dead. In the year 2003, the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the founder of the Association of Dead People. I am now qualified to apply for […]
This is an especially fun and thoughtful exploration of the Ig Nobel Prizes, on Radio New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUR7QhX9ygQ
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here’s how they begin: Seeking a soft landing — The elegant structure of a naturally evolved cat’s paw has inspired a new way to protect paratroopers’ legs…. A bit Heath Robinson — The cat’s-paw-pads-for-paratrooper-protection patent reminds Feedback, a little, of a […]
Experts, especially British experts, both agree and disagree on the question: What is the proper way to make a cup of tea? Investigator Gary Dryfoos reminds us that there are audiovisual materials documenting some of those views. Here are a few of those materials. One might keep in mind that there is an official British […]
Alice Carter has produced a series of short videos in each of which she tells the story of one or another Ig Nobel Prize winner. Here are the first four episodes of that series. Premi Ignobel – I gatti sono liquidi? Premi Ignobel – Come trasportare un rinoceronte? Premi Ignobel – il pane imburrato […]
I am very happy to report that I’m now writing the weekly Feedback column in New Scientist magazine. That began a few weeks ago, in September 2022. It’s in addition to the things ongoing here at Improbable Research. I am especially thrilled to be able to do this. Here’s why. The Feedback column was created […]
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday (October 12, 2022) that led people to assail us, the organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, with a question. Their question: Did the Russian government announce or imply that the Ig Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the government of the USA, because of the […]