Mini-AIR

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")

August 2025, issue number 2025-08. ISSN 1076-500X.

improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/

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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Digestion, Then Motion

03 Are Economists Uncooperative?

04 Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS are Now Available

05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Are Economists Selfish?

06 Alcohol & Skiing Winner

07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Shark Tesla Valves, Goat Touchscreen Tasks

08 Are Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated?

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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS

30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

31 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)

32 — Contact Info (*)

33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

What you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR) is overflow detritus

from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).

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02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Digestion, Then Motion

The special DIGESTION OR INDIGESTION issue (vol. 31, no. 4) in the hands or whatever of subscribers, who presumably are digesting the contents.

See the TOC and several articles online at

improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-july-august-2025-vol-31-number-4/

The special MOTION issue is in prep.

SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE, or get BACK ISSUES (there are more than 150 of them!): gumroad.com/improbable

Tables of Contents: improbable.com/magazine-2/

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03 Are Economists Uncooperative?

This month's quasi-haphazardly selected research report of the month (QHSRROTM) is:

"Does Studying Economics Discourage Cooperation? Watch What We Do, Not What We Say or How We Play," Anthony M. Yezer, Robert S. Goldfarb and Paul J. Poppen, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 10, no. 1, Winter, 1996, pp. 177-186. (Thanks to David Kessler for bringing this to our attention.)

aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.1.177

The authors explain:

"The weight of evidence [as suggested by other researchers] clearly suggests that, based on what economics students say and how they play games, those who study economics appear to be less cooperative than those who do not....

However... the evidence in this paper implies that even if undergraduate students of economics display uncooperative behavior in specialized games or surveys, their "real-world" behavior is actually substantially more cooperative than that of their counterparts studying other subjects."

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04 Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS are Now Available

TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS

to attend the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony

are now available, at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/improbableresearch/1758393

THE CEREMONY (Thursday, Sept 18)

The ceremony will happen on THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 18, at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. The ceremony also will be livecast.

Ten new Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded for things that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The theme of this year's ceremony (though not necessarily of the prize-winning achievements) is DIGESTION. A new mini-opera (called "The Plight of the Gastroenterologist") will premiere as part of the ceremony.

DETAILS: improbable.com/the-35th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/

FACE-TO-FACE (Saturday, September 20)

A related event, Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, will happen on SATURDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 20, 2025, at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The new Ig Nobel Prize winners ask each other questions about their work.

LATER EVENTS (October and November)

Additional Ig Nobel Face-to-Face events will happen in:

LONDON UK (October 31);

BERLIN, GERMANY (date TBA);

TOKYO, JAPAN (date TBA).

DETAILS: improbable.com/the-35th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/

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05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Are Economists Selfish?

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Are Economists More Selfish Than Other 'Social' Scientists?" David N. Laband and Richard O. Beil, Public Choice, vol. 100, nos. 1999, 85-101.

doi.org/10.1023/A:1018370625789

The authors explain:

"Heretofore, the empirical debate has centered around classroom experiments designed to compare the 'honesty' of undergraduate economics majors versus non economics majors. However, methodological problems have plagued these studies, leaving both sides at an impasse. We offer unique and compelling real-world evidence that suggests economists are no less cooperative than non-economists. Indeed, after comparing the incidence of 'cheating' on their Association dues, we find that professional economists are significantly more honest/cooperative than professional political scientists, and especially, professional sociologists."

Send your perfictly formed, perfectly pleasing limerick to:

Selfish Economists(?) LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM

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06 Alcohol & Skiing Winner

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

"Alcohol Consumption, Sensation Seeking and Ski Injury: A Case-Control Study," Cheryl J. Cherpitel, Allan R. Meyers, M.W. Perrine, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, vol. 59, 1998, pp. 216-221. (Thanks to Tim Chapman for bringing this to our attention.)

doi.org/10.15288/jsa.1998.59.216

Winning limerickicist NAN SWIFT writes:

Yes, choose controlled drinking, my friend,

If when skiing you really intend

To get yourself mangled

In some good old-fangled

Way on which you, friend, can depend.

This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

If all that you seek is a thrill,

Ski as fast as you want down a hill.

But having drinks first?

Then prepare for the worst,

To be injured or maimed, as you will.

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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Shark Tesla Valves, Goat Touchscreen Tasks

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

BLOG (improbable.com):

• Shark Spiral Intestines May Operate as Tesla Valves

• Dramatic Improbable Readings at WorldCon in Seattle

• Touchscreen Tasks for Cognitive Testing in Domestic Goats

• …and much more

SUBSTACK: (improbablestuff.substack.com)

MASTODON: @MarcAbrahams@mstdn.science

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/improbableresearch

PATREON: patreon.com/ImprobableResearch

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08 Are Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated?

This month's Other Haphazardly-Selected Research Report (OQHSRROTM) of the month is:

"Selfish and Indoctrinated Economists?" Bruno S. Frey and Stephan Meier, European Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 19, no. 2, 2005, pp. 165-171,

research-collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/handle/20.500.11850/146644/eth-25606-01.pdf

The authors explain:

"Many people believe that economists in general are more selfish than other people and that this greater selfishness is due to economics education. This paper offers empirical evidence against this widely held belief. Using a unique data set on giving behaviour in connection with two social funds at the University of Zurich, it is shown that economics education does not make people act more selfishly. Rather, this natural experiment suggests that the particular behaviour of economists can be explained by a selection effect."

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TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF.

SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!

improbable.com/magazine-2/

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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS

· Worldcon, Seattle, USA — Aug 13, 2025

· 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, Boston, MA, USA — Sep 18, 2025

· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, Cambridge, MA, USA — Sep 20, 2025

· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, London, UK, Oct 31, 2025

· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, Berlin, GERMANY, date TBA

· Falling Walls, Berlin, GERMANY — Nov 2025

· Monell Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA — Nov 12, 2025

· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, Tokyo, JAPAN, date TBA

· Royal Society Club, London, UK — Nov 27, 2025

· Science Friday Ig Radio Special — Nov 28, 2025

· Ig Nobel EuroTour — Spring 2026

For details and additional events, see: improbable.com/upcoming-events/

If your institution would like to host an event,

please get in touch with us at:

MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM

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30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine,

in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think.

improbable.com/publications/magazine

SUBSCRIPTIONS ($40 for six issues)

BACK ISSUES ($8 each)

(mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)

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31 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

This newsletter, Mini-AIR, is just a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine Annals of Improbable Research.

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to mini-AIR, see the links at the end of this email.

ARCHIVES: improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/

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32 — CONTACT INFO (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

improbable.com

EDITORIAL: MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM

SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: subscriptions AT improbable.com

Cambridge, MA, USA

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33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

EDITOR: Marc Abrahams

CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Nan Swift, Stephen Drew

PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance

AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts

Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the

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