Additional co-winners of the 2009 Ig Nobel economics prize have been convicted

Two more of the many co-winners of the 2009 Ig Nobel economics prize have achieved special recognition from the Icelandic government: they have been pronounced guilty in legal proceedings. BACKGROUND: The 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to the directors, executives, and auditors of four Icelandic banks — Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, Glitnir Bank, and Central Bank of […]

How Iceland is a very Ig Nobel nation, and why that’s good

Iceland, though a small, physically isolated country, can boast of great Ig Nobelity. Ig Nobel Prizes, of course, are awarded for achievements that make people laugh, then think. Iceland displayed panache in its Ig Nobellian displays of economics, and then government. BANKS. The 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to the directors, executives, and […]

Sensory attributes of haddock balls in the cold

Haddock balls suffer from the cold, according to this Icelandic study: “SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF HADDOCK BALLS AFFECTED BY ADDED FISH PROTEIN ISOLATE AND FROZEN STORAGE,”  Gholam Reza Shaviklo [pictured here], Sigurjon Arason, Gudjon Thorkelsson, Kolbrun Sveinsdottir and Emilia Martinsdottir, Journal of Sensory Studies, vol. 25 (2010) 316–331. (Thanks to investigators Philip Rubin and Robert Remez […]

The Big Bank Opera (video)

“The Big Bank Opera” premiered as a featured part of the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Here’s the entire mini-opera — Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 and Act 4 — each as a separate episode (#124-7) of the Improbable Research TV series. The video displayed below is Act 3, which is called “The Big […]