Nippon.com is running an ongoing series of profiles of Ig Nobel Prize winners. They say: ‘The Ig Nobel Prize recognizes scientific research that “makes people laugh and then makes them think.” Japanese researchers have consistently been among its recipients since 2007, including a Bandai employee who won the illustrious prize for developing the Tamagotchi and […]
Qpri-TV visited the newly opened Ig Nobel Prizes exhibition in Fukuoka, Japan: The exhibition runs through November 3, 2021
Every nation is keen to find new propaganda weapons to use against its rival nations. Some nations now gleefully use the Ig Nobel Prize. Here’s a recent (September 18, 2019) example, in an editorial in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun: Ig Nobel Prizes encourage people to enjoy science with a smile Winners of the Ig […]
This film documents what happened when I (founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony) visited two Ig Nobel Prize winners at Hokkaido University. Toshiyuki Nakagaki, winner (with his team) of two Ig Nobel Prizes (in 2008 for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles, and in 2010 for using slime mold to determine the optimal […]
“The imagination in the Japanese head is really infinite. The Japanese have won awards for 12 consecutive years from the Ig Nobel Prize, which was founded in 1991. They are also the largest winners after the United Kingdom and the United States. The country, why is it that in such a seemingly orderly and somewhat […]
The Ig Nobel Prizes Exhibition opens today, in Tokyo, at the AaMo Gallery at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan. Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, will take part in the festivities. The exhibition will run from September 22-November 4, 2018. It is chock full of Ig Nobel items, photos, sounds, and activities from many […]
Please join us for any or all of the Ig Nobel events in Japan: Ig Nobel Japan Tour September 20, Thursday—Nerd Nite Tokyo, Nagatacho GRID, Tokyo, Japan.— A very jet-lagged Marc Abrahams will discuss the Ig Nobel Prizes. September 21, Friday— Special Pre-Show Press Opening of the Ig Nobel Exhibition—AaMo Gallery at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan. —Marc Abrahams and several Ig Nobel Prize […]
Are you looking for a “state of the art monograph which presents a unique introduction to thinking about cuteness and its incorporation into modern, especially computer-based, products and services” ? If so, you could consult Cuteness Engineering : Designing Adorable Products and Services (Springer International Publishing, Hardback £61.99 or e-Book £48.99). Here is an example chapter […]
User interface issues are not glamorous — but they do matter. Many irksome problems linger for years or decades. Sam Byford reports, in The Verge, on a cleansing case: Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bidet controls The Japan Sanitary Equipment Industry Association, a consortium of companies producing plumbing products including Toto, Panasonic, and […]
There was indeed a scientific investigation after the (widely reported) fire that ignited during a patient’s cervical conization procedure at the University of Tokyo Hospital, causing “a wide range of burns [to the] thighs [and] rear” to the patient. That scientific report is lavishly illustrated with photographs. To determine whether the accident could have been caused by an […]