Kuo-cheng Hsieh won the 2007 Ig Nobel Economics Prize for patenting a device that catches bank robbers by dropping a net on them. But amid the glamour of the announcement, some of its charms may have gone unnoticed…. Hsieh’s patent has had at least one recorded effect: it inspired Zoltan Egeresi in the fight against […]
Month: January 2008
Snively on the watch (at the Ig)
The informal lectures are when you get a chance to actually hear the reasoning behind all of this research. Consider it a “Why” to the “Huh?!” Each speaker has 5 minutes to share all of their research and try to convince the audience that they aren’t off their rocker. To avoid any speakers hogging the […]
What’s in their heads? Political candidates
Brain scans are the key to surprising things. Dr. Daniel Amen, head of the Amen Clinics, wrote a newspaper editorial in the Los Angeles Times, on December 5, 2007. Dr. Amen, whose web site explains that he has both “real credentials” and “real experience,” says: Clearly we care about the health outlook for our elected […]
A technical call for cuteness
Cuteness is now an engineering concept. On February 24th, 2008, engineers will gather in Cape Town, South Africa for a workshop on cuteness. The call for participants explains: Designing Cute Interactive Media Cuteness has an effective design philosophy that can be used in many areas to make emotionally engaging user interactive systems, as well as […]
One man against the zeitgeist (plastic and fat)
Investigator Steve Nadis opines: WHAT’S MAKING US FATTER? HOW ABOUT LAZINESS? An article in today’s Boston Globe asks the question: “Is plastic making us fat?” The premise of the article is that plastics in the environment can make people predisposed to obesity and could be a factor in the general weight gain in our population. […]
The strangely parallel Everetts
Hugh Everett, the originator of the multiple worlds interpretation of quantum physics, was a strange fellow. He left physics when Neils (sic) Bohr refused to take his ideas seriously and went into defense work where he made millions. His son Mark Everett is lead singer for the Eels. A BBC documentary, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives […]
Fingers: Ching Yuan’s Law
The special The Meaning of the Finger issue of AIR has resulted in a long chain of e-mails from Ching Yuan (age 12) of Taiwan, who nominates himself for an Ig Nobel prize for establishing Ching Yuan’s Law: If you want to bring your fingers to your back bends, and every day you must bend […]
Canine conversation?
To what extent do dogs converse, and if they do chat, what do they chat about? This video implicitly raises those questions: NOTE: We recommend that, if you have a dog, have that dog sit in the room while you play this video. (Thanks to WTF Nature and Investigator Rose Fox for bringing this to […]
How to get brains (and how not to)
Brain lab’s appeal met with some skepticism in court A research lab accused of taking brains from corpses without proper consent argued before Maine’s highest court Thursday that state law protects it from being sued as long as the lab was unaware of the tactics being used by its contractor. At least some justices seemed […]
The cost of wisdom
Now we know — or at least, someone has estimated — the cost of finding wisdom. An announcement from the University of Chicago says: DEFINING WISDOM The Arete Initiative at The University of Chicago is pleased to announce a $2 million research program on the nature and benefits of Wisdom. Once regarded as a subject […]