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 […]
The Tay Bridge Disaster, remembered on its anniversary
Today, December 28, is the anniversary of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The tragedy is now remembered in connection with the disaster of the poem it inspired. William McGonagall (whose family name, at least, is familar to readers of the Harry Potter books, because his grave is in the cemetery near the coffee shop where the first […]
2015 in Hair (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™)
Good news for scientists and people who appreciate hair – The 2015 Members Gallery of the Luxurious Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and its conjoined clubs has been released. Individual members are announced as they are inducted throughout the year, in the Improbable Blog (Hair Club section), and as each year closes they are […]
Dr. NakaMats, continued!
Gamely defying the predictions of his doctors, Dr. NakaMats is (1) still alive, and (2) still holding press conferences. On December 25, 2015 he sent us this note, from his home in Tokyo: Yesterday I had the press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club for the following important notice: Today is 7 days before estimated death […]
Biblical Bone Euphemism, Perhaps
Biblical study and biology combine in this treatise: “Congenital human baculum deficiency: The generative bone of Genesis,” Scott F. Gilbert [pictured here] and Ziony Zevit, American Journal of Medical Genetics, vol. 101, no. 3, 2001, pp. 284-285. The authors explain: “Whereas most mammals (including common species such as dogs and mice) and most other primates […]
How curious is the kangaroo (and other animals)
We’re rapidly approaching the semicentennial anniversary of the classic and yet-to-be-replicated study ‘Curiosity in Zoo Animals’ (Behaviour, Volume 26, Issue 1). Investigators Stephen E. Glickman and Richard W. Sroges* performed an extensive series of experiments with kangaroos and more than 100 other species of zoo animals, to see how curious they were. The team presented […]
Enter, pursued by a bear
Do you share the Christmas tradition of watching “Project Grizzly“, the documentary film about Ig Nobel Prize winner Troy Hurtubise? Here’s the film: Troy was awarded the 1998 Ig Nobel Prize for safety engineering, for Troy Hurtubise, of North Bay, Ontario, for developing, and personally testing a suit of armor that is impervious to grizzly bears. BONUS: Farewell, […]