“The authors derive their inspiration from an Ig Nobel prize-winning paper describing a basic mechanical model that investigates the results of walking backwards while carrying a cup of coffee.” So says the report “Mathematical model reveals solution to sloshing coffee,” in Phys.org. The Ig Nobel Prize-winning paper about walking backwards while carrying a cup of coffee […]
Year: 2017
Upper-class People More Likely to Take Candy From Babies [research study]
Entitlements inspire this study of adults taking candy from babies: “Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior,” Paul K. Piff, Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 11, 2012, pp. 4086-4091. The authors, at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of […]
Hand cooling from illusion not linked to change in body ownership
Researchers from Utrecht University have an update on temperatures in hands that may, or may not, belong to you. Their paper, “No consistent cooling of the real hand in the rubber hand illusion,” gives an example of the importance of distinguishing body ownership: “Consider a simple task such as walking towards another person –say, this […]
The incident of the Suspected-Soviet-Sub, the Swedish Navy, and the Farting Herring
“Fishes caused Sweden to be afraid of being attacked by Soviet submarines in 1982” is a report by VN Express (in Vietnamese) about the secret incident that years later produced the 2004 Ig Nobel Biology Prize. The central figures in the story: farting herring. It is an open question, biologically speaking, whether the herring do […]
Noseflutes for Christmas anyone?
Stuck for ideas for Christmas presents? Thought about noseflutes? Before purchasing (or making your own, as above), you can find all the information you require for an informed decision at Noseflute.org – since 2011, the definitive online resource for all things noseflute-related. A review of the ‘Nasalette’ replica, as featured in the video above, can […]
Medical danger of wearing rolled-up shirtsleeves
A medical report about the danger of rolling up your sleeves is featured in the December 2012 issue of mini-AIR. mini-AIR is an email newsletter— a tiny supplement to the un-tiny magazine Annals of Improbable Research. You can subscribe to the newsletter (it’s email, that comes once a month) for free. You can subscribe to the […]
Reindeer nasal glow: update
Many years, around Christmas, bright new explanations appear as to why reindeer noses might glow.”Glow” is a word from the song “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” but the general discussion centers on the possible redness—be it glowing or be it subdued, be it observed or be it imagined—of a reindeer’s nose. A new article in […]
Drug-Associated Spontaneous Orgasm (DASO): Problem, or Opportunity?
Pharmaceutical companies might experience spontaneous fiscal arousal upon reading a new medical study about drugs that may cause spontaneous orgasms. The study is: “Drug-Associated Spontaneous Orgasm: A Case Report and Systematic Review of Literature,” Wei-Hsi Chen, Yuan-Hsiang Chu, and Kuo-Yen Chen, Clinical Neuropharmacology, epub 2017. The authors, at Shu-Te University and Chang Gung University, Taiwan, […]
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen joins the LFHCfS (Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists)
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) has joined the Historical Honorary Members of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Known as the “Father of Radiology”, he discovered and investigated X-Rays while experimenting with vacuum tubes in 1895. He named them "X-Rays" because they were an unknown form of radiation and he refused to patent his discovery. […]
“Swearing helps us battle pain – no matter what language we curse in”
A replication (with Japanese-language speakers and English-language speakers) of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize-winning experiment (with only English-language speakers) about swearing and pain, described by one of the researchers, in The Conversation: Swearing helps us battle pain – no matter what language we curse in The new study is “Swearing as a response to pain: A […]