The Three Dimensions of Fresh Air

The Journal of Material Culture  is “concerned with the relationship between artefacts and social relations irrespective of time and place”. And, as part of this remit, the June 2013 issue of features one of the few academic studies of ‘Fresh Air’. ‘The air from outside: Getting to know the world through air practices’. “The article […]

Ig Nobel program premieres Friday night on France 5 TV

A reminder: Quand la Science Fair Rire, a television program about the Ig Nobel Prizes and Ig Nobel Prize winners, premieres on France 5, on Friday night, September 28. Produced by Frederic Lepage and directed by Roland Portiche for Paris-based FL Concepts, this and subsequent episodes will later also be shown on public television networks in […]

Apostrophe Protection Ig Nobellian Admonishes Bookseller

Ig Nobel Prize winner John Richards swung into action against a bookstore chain this week. (Mr. Richards, founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society, was awarded the 2001 Ig Nobel Prize in literature  for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive.) Harry Wallop reports in The Daily Telegraph: Waterstones drops its apostrophe Waterstones, the […]

The wallabies of England

How many wallabies are wandering the wilds of England?  Parrott and colleagues assessed the situation in 2008, issuing a study: “The Status of Scarce Non-Native Birds and Mammals in England,” Dave Parrott, S. Roy & M. Fletcher, Central Science Laboratory, December 2008. The authors report that : “Established colonies of wallabies… are known to have […]