mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
December 2025, issue number 2025-12. ISSN 1076-500X.
improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/
----------
Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
—————————
01 TABLE OF CONTENTMENT
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig, a Prelude to Childhood
03 An Analysis on Sea Snot
04 Adventures Here and There
05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: After the Sea Snot Occurrence
06 Quite Winner
07 Revelation About Revelations About Hiding Places
08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Hair, Garlic, Ice, Trees
09 A Survey of Sea Snot
---
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.
This little newsletter you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR) is overflow detritus from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
—————————
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig, a Prelude to Childhood
The special IG NOBEL (31:6) issue has meandered its way to subscribers.
The special CHILDHOOD issue (32:1) is in prep.
See the TOC and several articles online at
improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-november-december-2025-vol-31-number-6/
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/
* * *
SUBSCRIBERS PLEASE NOTE:
The company we have long been using to process subscriptions has become very unreliable. We are in the process of switching to a more reliable processor (one that has human beings, rather than AI, doing its programming and customer service). We hope the transition will be accomplished by early 2026.
—————————
03 An Analysis on Sea Snot
This month's quasi-haphazardly selected research report of the month (QHSRROTM) is:
"An Analysis on Mucilage (Sea Snot) Research. I. Ozturk & M. Şeker." Muzaffer Şeker and Haydar Yalçın, Ecology of the Marmara Sea: Formation and Interactions of Marine Mucilage, and Recommendations for Solutions, 2021, pp. 69-84.
tuba.gov.tr/en/publications/non-periodical-publications/science-and-thought-series-1/ecology-of-the-marmara-sea-formation-and-interactions-of-marine-mucilage-and-recommendations-for-solutions/an-analysis-on-mucilage-sea-snot-research
The authors report:
"Mucilage (sea saliva) is a thick, sticky substance produced by almost all plants and some microorganisms.... Although there are many different reasons, it is possible to talk about three main factors in the formation of Marine Mucilage, which is on the agenda of our country with the situation in the Sea of Marmara recently."
—————————
04 Adventures Here and There
The first-ever Ig Nobel events in Paris resulted in the gatherings of many people and the occurrence of many adventures (only some of which can be revealed to the public). Read about some of that, at improbable.com/2025/12/11/a-review-of-the-first-ever-ig-nobel-prize-show-in-paris/
To Sir, With No Love for Pubic Lice
improbable.com/2025/12/18/to-sir-with-no-love-for-pubic-lice/
The upcoming events in Tokyo (January 10) and Phoenix (February 13) promise more of both.
Details of those (and other events) are on our Upcoming Events page:
improbable.com/upcoming-events/
—————————
05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: After the Sea Snot Occurrence
This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:
"Analysis of Water Quality in Sea Waters After The Sea Snot Occurrence in Bima Bay West Nusa Tenggara," S. Kasim, N. A. Pratiwi, H. Natsir, S. Liong, and I. W. Sutapa International Journal of Acta Material, vol. 1, no. 2, 2025, pp. 91-100.
doi.org/10.62749/ijactmat.v1i2.12
The authors report:
"The incident that occurred in April 2022 in Bim Bay was a phenomenon that shocked the residents of Bima City and outside the Bima area. Based on previous laboratory tests, the cause is Sea Snot which is accompanied by an explosion in the number and metabolism of algae. The entry of organic and inorganic pollutants into water bodies can cause water quality to experience degradation in biological function. This research aims to analyze water quality in marine waters with the parameters BOD, COD, DO, determine the Nitrate and Phosphate content and characterize total coliform and E. coli bacteria in marine waters."
Send your perfictly formed, perfectly pleasing limerick to:
SEA SNOT LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM
—————————
06 Quite Winner
The judges have chosen co-winners in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:
"I Quite Fancy This: Quite as a Degree Modifier of Verbs in Written British English," Hannele Diehl, Working Papers in Linguistics, 2004, pp. 1-19.
https://www.sol.lu.se/fileadmin/media/forskning/workingpapers/engelska/vol04/diehl-wp-04.pdf
Co-winning limerickicist BOB TURVEY writes:
When foreigners write about "quite"
The end-product is usually shuite.
They just can't quite see
What's quite clear-cut to me
And they quite miss the point - am I ruite?
Co-winning limerickicist DIANNE O'LEARY writes:
To qualify verbs is quite right,
or else quite a mess you invite.
The meaning might hide,
and your writing misguide,
so keep "quite" in your sight when you write.
Co-winning limerickicist MICHAEL ("MICK") HODGKIN writes:
When saying "precisely", "that's right",
"Completely" or "only a mite",
We need just one word,
But how it's inferred
Is down to construal? Yes, quite.
This month's take, from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
There's a word that, though try as I might,
I can't seem to get that word right.
Does it bound? Yes or no?
From above or below?
Do you know what that adverb is? Quite!
—————————
07 Revelation About Revelations About Hiding Places
Paul Hodgetts wrote us about Michael Hodgkin's winning limerick in the November issue about the Limerick Contest in the October issue about a topographical index of hiding places. Hodgetts says:
* * *
My late father, Michael Hodgetts, wrote a lot of verse in his time including a fair few limericks, and would have been absolutely delighted to have seen his work on priest holes featured in your monthly limerick competition.
However, I’m afraid that he was “Michael”, never “Mike” [as in that limerick] Hodgetts. However, he was very occasionally “Mick” to one of his brothers and to my mother, so might I propose that amendment to your winning entry?
Could I have your permission to reproduce the limericks on the Facebook page of the English Catholic Records Society? He is fondly remembered by many people there and the joke would be much appreciated.
If you have any further curiosity regarding priest hides, here is a map online based upon the 3 published lists he made!
www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1FLS5IsveCrGdA4UTfuEooItM5HC3hJE&ll=52.31013149996797%2C-1.9479920535131434&z=8
* * *
—————————
08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Hair, Garlic, Ice, Trees
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...
BLOG (improbable.com):
• Rachel Varughese joins the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists
• “Babies Love When Mom’s Milk Tastes Like Garlic”
• 3D Printing of Ice into a Christmas Tree
• …and much more
SUBSTACK: (improbablestuff.substack.com)
MASTODON: @MarcAbrahams@mstdn.science
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/improbableresearch
PATREON: patreon.com/ImprobableResearch
—————————
09 A Survey of Sea Snot
This month's Other Haphazardly-Selected Research Report (OQHSRROTM) of the month is:
"Simulation of Pollution Load Capacity Model and Development of Sea Snot Model Conceptualization in Tropical Monsoonal Estuarine Water," Ishmah Sumayyaha, Arief Sudradjatb, and Prayatni Soewondoc, Heliyon, vol. 11, 2025, article e44018.
doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e44018
The authors report:
"The first recorded occurrence of marine mucilage, commonly known as sea snot, was documented in April 2022 in Bima Bay, disrupting economic activities in surrounding areas. Increased pollution loads, driven by intensified human activities and land-use changes, are major factors in sea snot formation. This study quantifies pollutant loads from human activities entering Bima Bay and develops a conceptual model to assess the bay's capacity to assimilate pollutants."
—————————
TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF.
SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!
improbable.com/magazine-2/
—————————
20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
· Chimie ParisTech–PSL, Paris, FRANCE — Dec 9 2025
· École Normale Supérieure, Paris, FRANCE — Dec 10 2025
· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, Tokyo, JAPAN, Jan 10, 2026
· Arisia, Cambridge, MA, USA — Jan 2026
· AAAS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, USA — Feb 13, 2026
· Royal Society Club, London, UK — Feb 26, 2026
Ig Nobel EuroTour — April 2026
· Berlin, Germany — Apr 13, 2026
· U Duesberg-Essen, Germany — Apr 17, 2026
· Lund U, Sweden — Apr 21, 2026
· EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland — Apr 21, 2026
· others To Be Announced
36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — Sep 24, 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
—————————
—————————
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 quasi-appendix to the actual magazine.)
—————————
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/
—————————
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
—————————
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
(c) copyright 2025, Improbable Research
—————————