The review article “Duck Body Parts” (which you can download) is part of the special Ducks issue (volume 27, number 4) of the magazine, Annals of Improbable Research. This special issue, like many other special issues of the magazine, is also available for purchase. All the issues are in the form of downloadable PDFs.
Tag: duck
Training Ferrets to Recognize Virus Odor in Duck Droppings
The effort to train ferrets to recognize virus odor in mallard duck droppings may be paying off, suggests a new study. The study is: “Biodetection of a specific odor signature in mallard feces associated with infection by low pathogenic avian influenza A virus,” Glen J. Golden, Meredith J. Grady, Hailey E. McLean, Susan A. Shriner, […]
Dead Duck Day 2020 kinda sorta postponed till 2022
The 25th Dead Duck Day, on June 5th, which was postponed from 2020 until 2021, will be more or less postponed till 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So be on the lookout for the special (postponed) 25th anniversary edition in 2022. This year, like last year, Dead Duck Day will have only two participants […]
AI and the Duck / Rabbit illusion [an improbable experiment]
The first (documented) version of the famous ‘Duck-Rabbit’ illusion is an unattributed drawing from the 23 October 1892 issue of the German Humour Magazine Fliegende Blätter, Since 1892, many thousands of people have struggled to decide whether the image is a duck or a rabbit. Results are about 50/50, with viewers seeing either a duck […]
Improbable video: Michael Jacksonization, bomb bay door, bird
Michael Jacksonization, bomb bay door, and bird all appear in Improbable Research Collection #102: 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.
Improbable video: The net, the flea, the duck and its lover
The net, the flea, the duck and its lover all appear in Improbable Research Collection #101: 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.
Wednesday is Dead Duck Day
The 24th annual Dead Duck Day celebration happens on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. Dead Duck Day honors the mallard duck that became known to science as the first (documented) ‘victim’ of homosexual necrophilia in that species, and earned its discoverer, Kees Moeliker, the 2003 Ig Nobel Biology Prize. Kees Moeliker, who is now director of the […]
Towards a Robo-Duck [study]
“The advancement in computer and drone applications is beyond human imagination, affecting and transforming the society, both structurally and socially. Exploitation of computer and drone technology is crucial to humankind in the futuristic world.” – explains the website for the 2017 International Conference on Computer and Drone Applications (IConDA) which was held at the Damai Beach […]
Playboy (the German edition) interviews Ig Nobel Prize winner Kees Moeliker, discoverer of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck
Playboy (the German edition) interviews Ig Nobel Prize winner Kees Moeliker, discoverer of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck:
Hydroplaning Eider Ducks – the math(s)
Ducks can fly. Ducks can swim. And, unusually, they’re pretty good at something in between – viz. hydroplaning (a.k.a. ‘Skeetering’). If you’ve seen them doing it, you might have wondered about the physics (and math(s)) behind it. In which case, you are not alone … “Common eiders (Somateria mollissima) are heavy sea-ducks that spend a […]