Yes, you can dream up clever twists of science and technology that are funny. But reality generally manages to get there sooner—and even more twistedly—than even the cleverest of comedians. Here’s yet another example: Here’s the actual patent. Here’s video of the ceremony that included the complete opera about the invention and the inventors. (If […]
Category: Ig Nobel
News about the Ig Nobel Prizes — honoring achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.
His cool appraisal of cold-showers-and-loneliness research
Dan Simons, psychology professor and Ig Nobel Prize winner (together with Chris Chabris, for the invisible-gorilla study) casts a cool, appraising eye on a cold-shower-and-loneliness study, and looks at the way other investigators have looked at that study. Simons writes, on his blog: Replication, Retraction, and Responsibility Congrats/thanks to Brent Donnellan, Joe Cesario, and Rich […]
Dour President Calvin Coolidge and the sex life of a rat
Richard Stephens, who is both a psychology professor at Keele University and an Ig Nobel Peace Prize winner (for his study “Swearing as a Response to Pain,”), explains the famous Coolidge Effect. Stephens writes, in his blog: The Coolidge Effect and the sex life of a rat John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was the 30th United States president, […]
Farewell, beloved professor (of Gilligan’s Island)
Sad news: Russell Johnson, the actor who played the role of The Professor on the TV show Gilligan’s Island, has died. In 1993, Mr. Johnson took a star turn at the 3rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, back when we were still holding the ceremony at MIT. When I introduced him on stage, the […]