Reefer madness

Lock three men in a room, make them smoke cannabis, and then try to provoke them into being hostile. Thirty years ago a team of American doctors actually conducted this daring experiment…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian

Ig Nobel UK Diary

"I have a present for you. Here, you see?" Pek Van Andel, swathed in an overcoat, trailing a wheeled, rumpled suitcase, and buzzing with Lieutenant Columbo impishness, held out two rod-like things. … So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian

Stir crazy

Some people collect birds’ eggs, some collect stamps, some the scalps of their enemies. I collect scientists’ best rituals for preparing tea or coffee. Under the rubric Project Cuppa, this endeavour is only two months old. Yet already it is revealing wonders…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian

Karaoke relief

A scientific experiment may look like torture and sound like torture, yet still be free of legal ramifications. At the University of Hong Kong, Edwin ML Yiu and Rainy MM Chan did an experiment that smacks of torture for the participants, the experimenters, and anyone within earshot. Their published report has a title that evokes […]

On the beach

Some 30 years ago, beachgoers in three countries found that strangers were coming up to them, asking strange questions. The strangers turned out to be fairly harmless. They were academics, driven by a fierce desire to understand how much space people appropriate for themselves when they plop down on a beach…. So begins this week’s […]

School name-calling

In the quest for excellence, some schools craft their own, specially excellent slogan or motto. Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana, has the motto: "Powerful Resources, Personal Learning, Everything You Need." This seven-word elegiac poem was born in an intensive research and development programme…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian