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| Mel says:   “It’s swell.” |
We conjured some short videos about improbable things people have researched or done. Many organizations have produced
documentaries and news reports about Improbable Research and about the Ig Nobel Prizes. You can find some or all of those here. (Elsewhere on this web site, you can find the
archive of Ig Nobel ceremonies and broadcasts.)
Documentaries about Improbable Research and the Ig Nobel Prizes
Journalists and documentary makers have pointed many cameras at Improbable Research projects and/or Ig Nobel Prize winners and things. Here are some of the resulting videos.
- Bahram Sadeghi of The Netherlands produced a series
of 6 minimovies that look lovingly at several individual Ig Nobel Prize winners. Mr. Sadeghi has made some
other
interesting videos since then - Japan’s NHK network produced a wildly popular (broadcast on Christmas eve) documentary
about the Ig Nobel Prizes - French company FLC Concepts produced the documentary Quand La Science Fait Rire, celebrating some of the Ig Nobel Prize winners. It premiered
on the France 5 public TV network, and was then adapted as an episode of Sweden’s
Vetenskapens Värld and elsewhere.
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Ig Nobel Documentary
by NHK (in Japanese) |
6 Ig Nobel Mini-Movies
by Bahram Sadeghi (in English) |
The Improbable Video Series
Our series of tiny bits-and-pieces videos peeks at improbable research — research that makes people laugh, then think. Here, below,
is a skimpy guide to these little videos. We might make some more.
Get notified whenever there’s a new episode by subscribing to the
Improbable Research channel on YouTube. It’s free.
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Related Links: Subliminal, subliminal, shrew no chew |
Related Links: Burnt, food, slipping socks |
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Related Links:
Random digits |
Related Links:
Swear words |
The McGonagall Experiments
Some poets, and some poems, are remembered long after they have died. William Topaz McGonagall is the false-gold standard against which all other are measured.
Our YouTube channel
Get notified whenever there’s a new episode by subscribing to the
Improbable Research channel on YouTube.
It’s free and contains even more videos than you’ll find on this page
Occasionally-Asked Questions about occasionally watching
the Improbable web series
What are these things?
These are experiments that we hope will lead you — and us — to interesting places. Most are three-minute
videos about research that makes people laugh, then makes them think. Each episode is composed of one or several
bits and people from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, from
Ig Nobel Prize lectures and ceremonies and other live events, and from many
other sources. We have been collecting this material for almost twenty years.
CONTENT: Mostly, it’s about science, technology, and medicine. And people.
FORMAT: In some episodes, the format is, roughly speaking, similar to Monty Python. But the content is all real.
An episode may be about one idea. Or it may have several different threads, which may or may not be related. Some
threads, and some people, recur in later episodes; some don’t.
What’s the point?
There are two goals — to make people laugh, and to get them curious about all kinds of things they might otherwise overlook.
What’s the range of topics?
All branches of science, technology, medicine, history, language, art, and lots more.
What can I expect in a typical episode?
This, that, and bits of anything. Take a look.
Why does each episode tell only part of a story (or parts of several stories)?
These videos make people wonder about all sorts of bizarre things. In the tradition of
Perils of Pauline,
they often leave you hanging at a most intriguing moment. So… how can you learn what happens to the people and
topics in a particular episode? Through the magic of the Internet, of course. For each episode, we provide a
small number of links to these people and topics. (Why a small number? The better, we hope, to entice you,
rather than overwhelm you.)
Who makes these things?
The Improbable Research people — the same people who produce the magazine,
the annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, the web site (and
blog), the monthly newsletter mini-AIR and the
weekly Improbable Research newspaper column.
Who’s in the episodes?
Lots of scientists, of many ages, of at least two sexes, from many countries. Some are famous, many are not.
There are also journalists, children, just plain people, and now and again some singers and musicians. And Mel.
Is it all brand new material?
Some is new, and some is old stuff that’s been seldom seen or even heard of. All of it is surprising and (we hope) hard to stop thinking about.
Is it okay to make copies?
Yes. These episodes have a Creative Commons license (Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives)
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/].
We encourage you to make and distribute copies.
How can I get more info about an episode?
The improbablecom.wpcomstaging.com web site has links, for each episode, about the people and
things in that episode. We encourage the special sites to provide links (either these or others of their choosing), too.
How can I subscribe?
If you’re familiar with RSS feeds, you can subscribe to ours
here. This will not only give you all the Improbable TV you’re looking for,
but also, all the other Improbable blog content.
If you’d prefer to
just receive notifications of new episodes, you can subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Just go to
http://youtube.com/ImprobableResearch and click the yellow
“Subscribe” button on the left side of the page. If you don’t already have a free YouTube account, you’ll
need to sign up for one first.
Further Questions?
Questions about the videos: You can ask us
Questions about anything technical: You can ask Julia Lunetta, the Improbable webmaster