Category: Improbable Investigators

Sergei Speransky Institute of Hygiene in Novosibirsk is in the news again. A March 26, 2005 article in Pravda reports that: Doctor of Biological Sciences, Sergei Speransky, is a very well known figure in Novosibirsk. The doctor became one of the authors of the shocking whipping therapy. The professor used the self-flagellation method to cure […]

Investigator Carlos E. Figueroa Castro writes: I would like to make you aware of Mr. Fernando Vallejo, a Colombian writer. Two of his most recent books are La tautolog?a de Darwin (Darwin’s tautology) and Manualito de imposturolog?a f?sica (Little manual of physical imposturology"). Mr.Vallejo was able to prove, in less than two years, that Charles […]

The scientific publications of James Bond are not as widely read as the publications ABOUT James Bond. The man himself is greatly missed: it was said of him that The nidification of birds  was one of his most compelling interests, after Caribbean zoogeography, which explains his admiration for Skutch.

Investigator Rob Sanders sends bear news. He writes: “Obviously, Mr. Scott MacInnes hasn’t been keeping up with the Igs over the years.  Look at this April 22, 2005 new report from Reuters: ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Scott MacInnes set an Alaskan record this week, although not one contenders would seek to break. State officials say the […]

The doctor who knows everything is William Campbell Douglas, or so one might infer. Among his qualifications: (1) For a full year, he endured economic and physical hardship; and (2) He is the author of five books.

Mathematician Stanley Eigen (yes, that is his real name) wrote a beautiful, brief tribute to his late colleague, the legendary Shizuo Kakutani. Called "The Lost Theorems of Kakutani," it appears in the March/April 2005 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.

Investigator David McA. McKirdy writes: I would like to bring to your attention John Gillatt of Bolton, Manchester, England. He recently hit the headlines in the UK after getting lost in the Malaysian rain forest for 5 days without a map or compass, or any other basic survival material. To cap it all he said […]

"The Centers for Disease Control report on tobacco smoking compares statistics of lung cancer to cigarette consumption amongst various regions and countries around the world, but like the American Lung Association, they say nothing about the stronger correlation with shoes." So writes James P. Semmel of Albuquerque, New Mexico in his lengthy essay about shoes […]

Hideto Tomabechi — who first made headlines in Japan almost   a decade ago after he cured brainwashed members of the AUM  Shinrikyo doomsday cult that unleashed deadly sarin gas on  the Tokyo subway system — claims to have developed a tune  for ring tones that promises to increase the breast measurements of those who listen […]

David Hanson builds heads the new-fashioned way.