Join us for the Improbable Research session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, in Austin Texas!
When: Saturday night, February 17, 8:00 pm.
Where: Hilton Austin Hotel— Salon H, Austin, Texas
The event will include will include:
- Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony
- Ig Nobel Prize winner Alex Suarez (Zurich, Switzerland)—Using a didgeridoo to treat sleep apnea and snoring
- Robert Kirshner (Harvard U)—The Universe
- Ig Nobel Prize winner Liza Shapiro (U Texas)—Why pregnant women don’t tip over
- Bill Press (U Texas, and past president of the AAAS) and John Hawkins (U Texas)—Comparative genomics of rubber chicken
- Ed Theriot (Texas Memorial Museum, U Texas)—The taxonomy of Barney
- The Committee of Reporters who Receive and Appreciate Press Releases will announce its selection of the Outstanding Press Release of the Year. John Rennie will perform a dramatic reading of the press release.
This special session is open to the public, free of charge. This is the twenty-somethingth year we’ve done this kind of event at the AAAS meeting. It always draws an overflow crowd. So… we suggest you arrive a little early, to ensure finding a seat.
Here’s an image from one of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning studies we will discuss. The study asks the question “Can a cat be both a solid and a liquid?”
UPDATE: Nathan Mattise reports his experience of the event, for Ars Technica: “Science after hours: Barney’s aquatic traits and how pregnant women stay upright.”