A new, distinct form of backend processing— a very distant relative of potty training, for computers—is presented in this new study: “A mountable toilet system for personalized health monitoring via the analysis of excreta,” Seung-min Park, Daeyoun D. Won, Brian J. Lee, Diego Escobedo, Andre Esteva, Amin Aalipour, T. Jessie Ge, Jung Ha Kim, Susie […]
Category: Boys Will Be Boys
Research — that makes people LAUGH, then THINK — by and for teenage boys of all ages and genders.
Mentos + Cola at Various Altitudes
The mentos/cola experiment has reached new heights. Details are in the study: “Probing the Mechanism of Bubble Nucleation in and the Effect of Atmospheric Pressure on the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser,” Thomas S. Kuntzleman and Ryan Johnson, Journal of Chemical Education, epub 2020. The authors, at Spring Arbor University and at Doherty High School, Colorado Springs, […]
Astroquadromagnetoduonostrility
Science advances two nostrils at a time. Or moves in some other direction. The Guardian reports, on March 30, 2020: An Australian astrophysicist has been admitted to hospital after getting four magnets stuck up his nose in an attempt to invent a device that stops people touching their faces during the coronavirus outbreak. Dr Daniel […]
Troy and the Grizzly Bear
Anyone seeking distraction can find it in this documentary video, “Project Grizzly.” See Troy Hurtubise in his self-mythic quest to personally build and test a suit of armor that he hopes will let him spend time with grizzly bears. Troy was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for safety engineering, in 1998, for the work documented […]
Dinner Lecture: Parasitology Club Fecal Lecture and Lab
Today’s Dinner Lecture of the Day is the “Parasitology Club Fecal Lecture and Lab” at Cornell University, at which “Dr. Araceli Lucio-Forster will give a dinner lecture on the principles of veterinary fecal examinations which will be followed by a practical lab in which students will have the opportunity to perform fecals on their pet’s […]
Scientists barked like dogs at toads to make them pee
Scientists barked like dogs at toads to make them pee in order to save the species from extinction, according to an Associated Press report by Dánica Coto: 1st in vitro Puerto Rico crested toad gives scientists hope …Extracting semen from toads that measure up to 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) long is normally easy: they release […]
Benefits of Tapping on an Un-Opened Beer Can?
[NOTE: The researchers will describe and demonstrate their work at the Ig Nobel show, on Wednesday, April 15, at the University of Southern Denmark.] Can you retrieve more beer from a can if you tap on the can before you open it? A Danish team ran some tests, and published a study about what they […]
Michael Milken, First Winner (in 1991) of the Ig Nobel Economics Prize, Pardoned
Michael Milken, the very first winner of the Ig Nobel Economics Prize, was pardoned today by the current President of the United States, Donald Trump. The 1991 Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to “Michael Milken, titan of Wall Street and father of the junk bond, to whom the world is indebted”. Fox Business […]
Not Only Assholes Drive Mercedes [research study]
Evidence suggests that one can accurately judge a person by seeing what kind of car the person drives, at least in Finland, suggests a new study. The study is: “Not Only Assholes Drive Mercedes. Besides Disagreeable Men, Also Conscientious People Drive High‐Status Cars,” Jan Erik Lönnqvist, Ville‐Juhani Ilmarinen, and Sointu Leikas, International Journal of Psychology, […]
Man vs. Bear, without Troy Hurtubise
A new TV series called “Man Vs Bear” tries to fulfill some of the ambitions of Ig Nobel Prize winner Troy Hurtubise, but without using the protective suits of armor that Troy tried to perfect. The TV producers describe what they hope to portray: For thousands of years, Grizzly Bears have stood at the top […]