“Cool? Or Just Clunky? The Fight Over Dashboard Touch Screens,” says a headline today in the New York Times. Without mentioning it, the Times report tells of the aftermath of technology that was honored thirty years ago with an Ig Nobel Prize. The Times explains: do-it-all touch screens, the nerve centers of many new cars, have […]
This TV ad for Alka-Seltzer evokes the spirit of gastroenterology in the decade 1960-69.
Zaobao reports, on October 11, 2021: In recent years, many Chinese variety shows have been draft talents. Zhejiang Satellite TV has taken a different approach. In mid-August, it launched a real-life show “Hi Release”. Wang Jiaer, Ren Jialun and Chen Feiyu served as “Hi Release Explorers”. Li Ronghao ( Participated in the fifth period of […]
Some humans might prefer to read the entirety of this study, rather than see any summary that we or anyone else would provide: “Monkeys Prefer Reality Television,” Eliza Bliss-Moreau [pictured below], Anthony C. Santistevan, and Christopher J. Machad, PsyAxXiv, DOI 10.31234/osf.io/7drpt, 2021. The authors are at the University of California Davis; Flatiron Health, Inc., New […]
Given the worldwide success of the Peppa Pig® TV series (and subsequent spinoffs), it’s perhaps not surprising that the character has attracted attention in academic circles. Here are some recent examples of scholarly publications on the subject. Does Peppa Pig encourage inappropriate use of primary care resources? British Medical Journal, 2017; 359 Peppa Pig and Friends International […]
A new TV series called “Man Vs Bear” tries to fulfill some of the ambitions of Ig Nobel Prize winner Troy Hurtubise, but without using the protective suits of armor that Troy tried to perfect. The TV producers describe what they hope to portray: For thousands of years, Grizzly Bears have stood at the top […]
SpongeBob SquarePants first made a public appearance in 1999, but it took quite some time for the emergence of a scholarly work which directly cited the character as a primary focus for study. This one, from 2005, is a likely candidate as the first : ■ A More Porous Postmodernity: Absurdity, Politics, Consumerism and the Cultural […]
The television quiz show Jeopardy used the Ig Nobel Prizes as a category, in the program broadcast on May 23, 2019. This was the eighth time the Igs have been a Jeopardy category (previous appearances were in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018). Here are the answers from the new session: The contest was exciting, reports the Inquirer Journal: Bolton native gives […]
The TV crew that visited today to interview me did something different—something that may mark the end of an era. This was, perhaps, the first TV crew that did NOT ask to film me typing at a computer. Maybe the trope of “science writer typing on a computer” is no longer assumed to be exotically […]
‘Pointless’ is a popular TV quiz-show series currently aired in the UK by the BBC. It’s hosted by Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, whom, along with the contestants, often engage in a spot of banter. [If you’re not familiar with the show, here’s an episode.] This banter specifically features in (what the publishers say is) […]