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: Research News
Research — on any and all subjects — that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
All-in-One Research about Lights, Food, Rotating Chair, and Earmuffs
A research study about lights, food, a rotating chair, and earmuffs is featured the “May We Recommend” column in the special Rotation and Spinning issue (volume 28, number 5) of the magazine. You can read that article free online. Better still, buy a copy of the issue (it’s in PDF form). Or better better still, subscribe […]
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 […]
Physics: The Rotation of Whirling Dervishes
“Rotation of Whirling Dervishes” is a review column about some of the scientific research that focuses on whirling dervishes. Specifically: (1) Physics of the Skirts of Whirling Dervishes, and (2) Whirling Dervish in an MRI Tube. The column appears in the special Rotation and Spinning issue (volume 28, number 5) of the magazine. You can […]
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 […]
Pussy Stimulation Study
A new, stimulating study of cats is aimed at assisting human women. The study is: “Vaginal Lubrication and Pressure Increase Induced by Pudendal Nerve Stimulation in Cats,” Jialiang Chen, Yihua Zhong, Jicheng Wang, Bing Shen, Zhijun Shen, Jonathan Beckel, William de Groat, Christopher Chermansky, Changfeng Tai, Journal of Sexual Medicine, epub 2022. The authors, at […]
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.