The November 2025 issue of mini-AIR, our teeny tiny free little e-newsletter of overflow detritus that did not fit in the magazine (Annals of Improbable Research), has just gone out. The issue contains info about research on the topic “Quite.” Another highlight is the winning entry in the competition to create a limerick to explain […]
The Disappearing Spoon podcast looked into what it calls “The Dignity of the Ig Nobels — Winning an Ig Nobel Prize is largely considered a joke, but its benefits are no laughing matter”. The podcast, with host Sam Kean, is a project of the Science History Institute. The introduction to this episode says: The Ig […]
At the Monell Chemical Senses Center’s “Celebration of Science”, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on Thursday, November 12, 2025, Marc Abrahams will do an evening talk about improbable research involving taste and smell. The entire day is a celebration of research on those subjects, and especially a celebration of research done by Robert Margolskee and colleagues over […]
Some questions intrigue scientists and the public. Other questions do not. This stud addresses one such question: “Can Bulgarian Yogurt Enhance Astronauts’ Performance During the Mars Missions?” Izabela Shopova, Diana Bogueva, Maria Yotova, and Svetla Danova, Journal of Ethnic Foods, vol. 10, no. 46, 2023. This image, figure 6 in the study, may help some […]