Endless Forms Most Stupid, Icky, and Small

Biology is not all cut, not all dry, not all Disneyfied, not always at all easy to classify tidily. This paper tries to kick any intellectually recalcitrant reader into realizing that: “Endless Forms Most Stupid, Icky, and Small: The Preponderance of Noncharismatic Invertebrates as Integral to a Biologically Sound View of Life,” Jesse E. Czekanski‐Moir […]

Tapeworms from Vertebrate Bowels of the Earth, appreciated

Though tapeworms tend to live sequestered lives, those lives can be—and now have been—contemplated panoramically. Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (2008-2017): Tapeworms from Vertebrate Bowels of the Earth, compiles info about tapeworms from the bowels of many vertebrates. The book is a collaboration of Janine N. Caira [pictured here] and Kirsten Jensen, published in 2017 [University of Kansas, Natural […]

“Imagine if the window were made of ants…”

Ig Nobel Prize winner David Hu researches many questions that involve biology AND mathematics AND physics. And often, fluid dynamics. In this video, he confides, concisely, some of the biophysical ways that ants survive perilous, quickly-changing physical conditions: The 2015 Ig Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Patricia Yang [USA and TAIWAN], David Hu [USA and TAIWAN], and […]

Marcus Byrne tells of the dung beetles and the Milky Way

Marcus Byrne tells about the dung-beetles-and-the-Milky-Way research that led to an Ig Nobel Prize for him and his colleagues, in this University of the Witwatersrand video: That Ig Nobel Prize was awarded, in 2013, jointly in the fields of biology and astronomy, to Marie Dacke [SWEDEN, AUSTRALIA], Emily Baird [SWEDEN, AUSTRALIA, GERMANY], Marcus Byrne [SOUTH AFRICA, UK], […]

The new opera about each and every species of life

A new opera, called “The Best Life“, will premiere next week — as part of the Twenty-Fifth 1st Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. Here’s the story line of “The Best Life“, as explained in the program that will be handed to all 1100 audience members in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre: The story: It’s the day before the greatest competition […]