Leadership and Murphy’s Law

With the news so full of claims about leadership, it’s a good time to look for basic research on that subject. Buried in the heaps of academic vagary about leadership is, at least, one useful, practical nugget. There is a simple question that every competent leader keeps in mind, and no incompetent leader does: “What […]

Laugh (or Not) and Think

The Ig Nobel Prizes are intended to first make people LAUGH, and then make them THINK. The new crop of Ig winners provoked a discussion, on the website Plastic, that features both aspects (except for one gentleman who declines, perhaps ever, to engage in the first of the twinned activities.)

Hear the Ig Nobel Karaoke Tribute

Daisuke Inoue, the inventor or karaoke, was karaoke-serenaded by three Nobel Laureates (Dudley Herschbach, William Lipscomb and Rich Roberts) and and slinky blonde (Karen Hopkin) immediately after Mr. Inoue accepted the 2004 Ig Nobel Peace Prize. NPR’s “All Things Considered” broadcast a nifty report that includes part of the serenade.

John Mack

We are sad to report the passing, on Monday last, of Dr. John Mack. Dr. Mack shared the 1993 Ig Nobel Psychology Prize with David Jacobs. The citation said they were honored for their leaping conclusion that people who believe they were kidnapped by aliens from outer space, probably were — and especially for their […]

Hairy Men and Dr. Alias

If a hairy man becomes insatiably curious about what it means to have all that hair, he may well run across the work of Dr AG Alias. (Yes, that is his name.) Alias is an expert on certain aspects and implications of the hairiness of men…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The […]