The organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony solved an ancient problem: How to keep speeches from droning on and on… The solution, called “Miss Sweetie Poo”, is an 8-year-old girl who tells long-winded speakers to “Please stop. I’m bored. Please stop. I’m bored…” Here are Miss Sweetie Poo highlights from several Ig ceremonies.
Month: July 2010
DNA Faking for Criminals and Murder Novelists
Master criminals and murder novelists, many of whom felt hemmed in by technical limitations, can feel relieved by the news of new DNA technology: “Authentication of forensic DNA samples,” Dan Frumkin, Adam Wasserstrom, Ariane Davidson and Arnon Grafit, Forensic Science International Genetics, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 95-103 (February 2010). (Thanks to Ed Yong for […]
Whynot: 191 Pelvic Inflammations
Some people ask why. Some ask Whynot. Today we celebrate the work of medical researcher E. Whynot: “A Retrospective Study of 191 Cases of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease,” P. Kendall, E. Whynot and E. Gomber, Canadian Journal of Public Health, 1977 Jul-Aug;68(4):318-22.
The pumpkin phloem that is secret
Read if you dare (and if you have a subscription to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) the report “The secret phloem of pumpkins,” by the possibly mysterious Robert Turgeon and Karl Oparka. (Thanks to investigator Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) BONUS: Phloem, for the uninitiated BONUS: “Up the cleppie, doon […]