“Frozen Meat Against COVID-19 Misinformation: An Analysis of Steak-Umm and Positive Expectancy Violations” [by Ekaterina Bogomoletc and Nicole M. Lee, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, vol. 35, no. 1, 2021, pp. 118-125.] is a featured study in “Pandemic Dining: Gelato, Candy, Lettuce, Frozen Meat“, which is a featured article in the special Viruses and […]
“Handwashing and Detergent Treatment Greatly Reduce SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load on Halloween Candy Handled by COVID-19 Patients” [by Rodolfo A. Salido, Sydney C. Morgan, Maria I. Rojas, Celestine G. Magallanes, Clarisse Marotz, Peter DeHoff, Pedro Belda-Ferre, et al., Msystems, vol. 5, no. 6, 2020, e01074-20] is a featured study in “Pandemic Dining: Gelato, Candy, Lettuce, Frozen […]
“Association Between Consumption of Vegetables and COVID-19 Mortality at a Country Level in Europe” [by Susana C. Fonseca, Ioar Rivas, Dora Romaguera (pictured here), Marcos Quijal-Zamorano, Wienczyslawa Czarlewski, Alain Vidal, Joao A. Fonseca, Joan Ballester, Josep M. Anto, Xavier Basagana, Luis M. Cunha, and Jean Bousquet, MedRxiv, 2020] is a featured study in “Pandemic Dining: […]
The special Viruses and Pandemics issue of the magazine—Annals of Improbable Research—has been released into the populace. Among its delights you will find: Pandemic Dining: Gelato, Candy, Lettuce, Frozen Meat Virus Toiletometry Pandemic-Fingering: Manning and His Digits Anti-Pandemic Drinking and Drugging Pandemic-Handling: Toilet Paper, Horror, and the Wealthy Beauty and Masks in Pandemic Time Eyeglasses […]
Hopes and prayers lie at the heart of a saint-centric study about mitigating the effects of the pandemic. The study is: “Which Saint to Pray for Fighting Against a Covid infection? A short survey,” A. Perciaccante, A. Corallic, and P. Charlier, Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, vol. 18, September 2021, 100674. (Thanks to Andrea Rapisarda […]
People ask us why this year’s (2021) Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will, like last year’s, happen entirely online rather than in the usual big-theater-with-an-audience. Why? Because if you’re organizing a public event, especially an event involving people traveling from many countries, you are aware that this (see news item by Axios, July 8, 2021) kind of […]
A song for the here and now: “Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and his wife, Diane Baker, can’t do their usual volunteering at Camp Fantastic, where children with cancer spend a week together in a camp setting, but with the necessary medical support.” Dr. Carrie Wolinetz wrote the lyrics. The […]
As if prepared for it all their lives, fans of horror fiction plunge now into a real pandemic. A new study looks at their psychological prospects. “Pandemic Practice: Horror Fans and Morbidly Curious Individuals Are More Psychologically Resilient During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Coltan Scrivner [pictured here, stylistically], John Johnson, Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, and Mathias Clasen, PsyArXiv, […]
With so many people cycling between worry and boredom, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe we can help, a little, to crack that boredom. We’re thinking about doing a series of quick Improbable Research podcast episodes about studies that make people laugh, then think. We have a goodly supply. Some of the first might even […]
How to get people to pay more attention to NOT touching their eyes, nostrils, or mouth? We invited people, in a gathering, to say “FACE” whenever they saw a speaker touching a hand to their face. And most of those people said “FACE”, cheerily—appreciating that they were talking to themselves as much as to the […]