Some say that squeezing balls can enhance one’s creativity. [for background see: from 2010, Improbable article : ‘Ball squeezing and creativity’] Questions can arise however – such as ‘what kind of balls might work best’ and ‘under what circumstances’? Answers may depend on the kind of creative task in hand, as is postulated in a […]
Year: 2015
Podcast #44: Stool pigeons, and clothes-shopping clothes, and tanning beds
Stool pigeons, clothing-shopping clothing, and the dark attitudes of people who tan themselves in tanning beds — these are the things that turn up in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams —with dramatic readings by Jean Berko Gleason — tells about: Self-control by pigeons. (“Self-Control by Pigeons in the Prisoner’s Dilemma,” […]
Drink | drunk | hungover (studies)
Scenario: You’re on holiday. You drink heavily. What are the factors that might contribute towards a hangover? Such a question was asked by researchers Morten Hesse and Sébastien Tutenges of the University of Aarhus, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Copenhagen Division, Denmark, who performed a 2010 observational prospective study with a total of 112 […]
Sad News: Harry Lipkin is gone
I’m very sorry to report that Harry Lipkin has died. Harry was a founding editorial board member of the Annals of Improbable Research, and long before that — in 1955, he and Alex Kohn co-founded the Journal of Irreproducible Results, the forerunner of the Annals. Harry was also, by the way, one of the world’s great […]