If you are in Johannesburg this week, you can hear details about the ways a male is judged by the size of his balls, if that male is a dung beetle.
It is not uncommon for male dung beetles to obtain sexual favors from females by presenting them with a ball of crap. But of course males cannot be entirely trusted and might pretend that they have deposited a big juicy piece of dung underground, only for the potential girlfriend to discover that this was a trick.
On 22 September 2015, in Johannesburg, South Africa Professor Marcus Byrne of the University of the Witwatersrand who is part of the team that won the 2013 Ig Nobel Prize for Biology and Astronomy for discovering that when dung beetles get lost they can navigate their way home by looking at the Milky Way, will give a talk titled “You can roll it, but I wouldn’t smoke it“.
BONUS. Prof Marcus Byrne is regarded as one of the sexiest scientists alive. In case you are unable to attend the evening of science and cocktails on the 22nd, you can read more about the shitty world of dung beetles here.