When, if ever, does a person stops learning? Stephen Rushen, an educationalist based at Penn State University in the United States, conducted an experiment, or says he conducted an experiment, to find out…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.
Angular Momentum – Groundhog
Investigator Dwight Fisher sent us this report from the field: I was taking a much needed rest from my scientific pursuits with a collection of technical support staff in a local vegetarian restaurant located on a busy street near downtown Athens, Georgia. One of the staff looked out the window and said, “What is that?” […]
Dead and Standing for Election
Lal Bihari, the founder and head of the Association of Dead People — and winner of the 2003 Ig Nobel Peace Prize — is standing for elective office. See a video news report here. See a further news report about it here. And that’s not all. As head of the Association, Lal Bihari is encouraging […]
Gross National Happiness
The first major international seminar which drew more than 80 participants from across the globe to discuss the depth and profundity of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) agreed that GNH combines spirituality with secular science of technology and that the global community should protect and enhance it. So says a report from Bhutan, […]
On Drying of Laundry
“It is striking that the drying process familiar to most people, namely, that of drying laundry hung from a clothes line, does not seem to have been investigated in a quantitative, scientific manner.” With those words, and many more, Eric B Hansen introduced a generation to the subtle mathematical pleasures of damp cloth…. So begins […]
Wiggling, Shrunken Heads, Sopranos
Group wiggling, shrunken heads, and the incomprehensibility of soprano singers — research about all these topics is highlighted in the “AIRhead Research Review” column in the current issue (vol. 10, no. 2) of the Annals of Improbable Research. Read the column here.
Socially Scientific
Science is a social activity — very social. That’s why the Annals of Improbable Research has a brand-new regular column called “Socially Scientific.” Read the very first appearance of “Socially Scientific here.
More About Mikhailov, Maybe
If you are intrigued about “On The Existence of Mikhailov,” if you can’t stop wondering about Mikhailov, if you crave more info no matter how tenuously connected it may be, then read the article “Notes on the Existence of Mikhailov.” It appears in volume 10, number 2 of the Annals of Improbable Research. Read the […]
The Existence of Mikhailov
the author was prompted to examine the evidence for the existence of A.I. Mikhailov, the legendary and apparently near-ubiquitous Soviet information scientist. At first glance this might seem unwarranted and gratuitous. After all, the appearance of Mikhailov, or at least his name, in the program was a fixture of international library and information science conferences […]
Interview With Professor Hirose
When Prof. Yukio Hirose of Kanazawa University expressed his warmest gratitude for pigeons and crows upon receiving the Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize (a parody of the Nobel Prize) in October, the audience at Harvard University exploded into cheers…. So begins a report about the 2003 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize winner, who won his prize for […]