If you somehow are not already in love with bark beetles, we self-interestedly recommend this wonderful new book: The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles, by Jiri Hulcr and Marc Abrahams.
Category: Arts and Science
Research and other stuff that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
Announcing the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners
Ten new Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded tonight at the 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The winners, and a description of their work, are listed on the list of all Ig Nobel Prize winners (1991-2022). Each winner has done something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK. The faces you see in the image […]
“The Know-It-All-Club” Opera
A new mini-opera called “The Know-It-All Club” will premiere as part of the 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday, September 15, 2022. The theme of the 2022 ceremony, evinced in the opera and other bits, is: Knowledge. The ceremony will be webcast. You can watch it here at http://www.improbable.com The opera plot: Every […]
Visions of Pork Production, on French Belle Époque Pig Postcards
Amidst the vastness of a study on old French pig postcards, there is an image from a once-famous, now-somewhat-neglected way to teach drawing. The pig postcard study is: “Visions of Pork Production, Past and Future, on French Belle Époque Pig Postcards,” Michael D. Garval, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, vol. 14, no. 1, Spring 2015. The drawing […]
The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony happened on Thursday, September 15, 2022.
Chile Pepper Hotness Research (Prize-Winning and Other)
Paul Bosland, founder of the Chile Pepper Institute, is profiled in the Washington Post, as a central part of the article “Sorry, Scoville. Peppers deserve better than an archaic heat scale,” written by Tamar Haspel: When Old El Paso wanted jalapeño’s flavor, but not its capsaicin, to blend into its products, Bosland was able to […]
Hoping to translate what cats and dogs say
“Did My Cat Just Hit On Me? An Adventure in Pet Translation“, a report in the New York Times on August 29, 2022, by Emily Anthes, tells about new attempts to build computer-based devices that will translate cats’ and dogs’ utterances into human speech. The report does not mention that these devices follow in the footsteps […]
Men and Boys and Goats
“Men and Boys and Goats” is a review article in the special Men (and Women) issue (volume 28, number 4, July/August 2022) of the magazine. It glimpses numerous published reports of men and boys and goats. The article is free online.
A Man Who
“A Man Who” is a review article in the special Men (and Women) issue (volume 28, number 4, July/August 2022) of the magazine. It glimpses numerous published reports of men who. (And one woman who.) The article is free online.
What the
A new book echoes and explores some of the the perplexities that were honored, some years ago, with an Ig Nobel Literature Prize. The new book is called Index, A History of the. Dennis Duncan wrote it. (And here’s a review in the Globe and Mail.) The 2007 Ig Nobel Literature Prize was awarded to […]