Alice Carter has produced a series of short videos in each of which she tells the story of one or another Ig Nobel Prize winner. Here are the first four episodes of that series. Premi Ignobel – I gatti sono liquidi? Premi Ignobel – Come trasportare un rinoceronte? Premi Ignobel – il pane imburrato […]
I am very happy to report that I’m now writing the weekly Feedback column in New Scientist magazine. That began a few weeks ago, in September 2022. It’s in addition to the things ongoing here at Improbable Research. I am especially thrilled to be able to do this. Here’s why. The Feedback column was created […]
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday (October 12, 2022) that led people to assail us, the organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, with a question. Their question: Did the Russian government announce or imply that the Ig Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the government of the USA, because of the […]
Did your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? If so, that might be a symptom of COVID-19. This medical thought is inspired by the song “Does Your Chewing Gum Lost Its Flavor“, released into the world in 1959. UPDATE: Investigator Mason Porter alerts us to the existence of an earlier (1924) version […]
A quality that any book can have: Years after it’s been published, new people discover, happily, that it exists. Here’s a recent review, in the Twaddle blog, of the book This Is Improbable. The reviewer says, in part: From sky lizards to exploding meat, the research covered in this book is the epitome of eclectic, […]
Three weeks ago, Barry Sharpless presented the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Engineering to Gen Matsuzaki and colleagues, who tried to discover the most efficient way for people to use their fingers when turning a knob. He also presented the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine to Marcin Jasiński, Martyna Maciejewska, Anna Brodziak, Michał Górka, […]
This TV ad for Alka-Seltzer evokes the spirit of gastroenterology in the decade 1960-69.
There will be lots of improbable science story sharing in fourteen Italian cities this Friday night, September 30, 2022. Stories about real science. Stories filled with mystery, confusion, excitement, and lots of intriguing uncertainty. This is a new part of SHARPER Night in Italy — Friday night, September 30. (What, you may ask, is SHARPER? […]
Research studies about luck and about bedbugs are featured in the “Icky Cutesy Research” 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 to the magazine!
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.