About IMPROBABLE RESEARCH

What?

Why?

Who?

Says who?

Never seen the magazine? Then please download a free sample issue. (And here are some classic articles.)

What

Improbable Research makes people LAUGH, and then makes them THINK.

THE MAGAZINE: The Annals of Improbable Research (also known as AIR) is a science humor magazine, full of genuine, improbable research culled from more than 10,000 science, medical, and technical, and academic journals, with some deadpan concoctions stirred into the mix.

THE IG NOBEL PRIZES: The Ig Nobel Prizes are given each year for achievements that make people LAUGH, and then make them THINK.

AND: We also produce:

Why

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but, 'That's funny..." --Isaac Asimov

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." --Sherlock Holmes

Our goal is to make people LAUGH, then make them THINK.

We also hope to (a) spur people's curiosity about science, and (b) raise the question: How do you decide what's important and what's not, and what's real and what's not -- in science and everywhere else? AIR may be the only science magazine that's read by scientists, doctors, and engineers -- and by their family and friends. Teachers sometimes use AIR articles as a sneaky way to get kids (and/or their parents) curious about science.

Who

The Annals of Improbable Research is produced by the same gang of people founded and organize the annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. (Click here for a biography of editor Marc Abrahams.) Our editorial board consists of fifty-odd eminent scientists, doctors, etc. from around the world, including several Nobel Prize-winners and a convicted felon. (We are the very same people who from 1955-1994 founded and edited the Journal of Irreproducible Results. In 1994, when the Journal's publisher decided to abandon the magazine, we decided to abandon that publisher. Unable to get use of the old name, we started a brand new publication -- the Annals of Improbable Research). And yes, we probably are AIRheads.

Says Who?

Click here to see what the critics say: The California Tech, The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, The Star [South Africa], The Rocky Mountain News, Universum, Journal of the American Medical Association, Alternet, MSNBC, USA Today, CBS News [with video], the New Zealand Herald, and many more.

TRADEMARKS: "Ig" and the tumbled thinker logo are both reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.

Who Produces This Web Site

This website is (it's perhaps needless to say) produced by our web staff.

 

Marc Abrahams (marca@chem2.harvard.edu)

Editor

Amy Gorin (airmaster@improbable.com)

Global Village Idiot, and Webmaster

And also..............

 

Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu)

AIR Commutative Editor

Mark Dionne

AIR Associative Editor

Robin Abrahams

AIR Psychology Editor

Eric Schulman (fornax@radix.net)

Satellite Webmaster -- Universal History

Gary Dryfoos (dryfoo@mit.edu)

Majordomo

Peaco Todd (peaco@cape.com)

Top-Level Banner Design

Milo

Improbable Dog

Blinsky

Improbable Lizard

The Annals of Improbable Research (the print magazine) has many additional people working on, in, for and against it, too. Eventually we'll put in links to those staff lists.

Keep ahead of the latest improbable research. Comb through the magazine. Sniff at our free monthly newsletter. Glance at our daily blog.