After 35 years in the USA, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony is moving to Europe. This coming September 3, the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony will take place in Zurich, Switzerland. TICKETS will go on sale Tuesday, May 12, 2026. [NOTE: We will have a big celebration event in Boston, three weeks after […]
Upasana Sarraju’s new book called Unruly: The Ig Nobel Prizes and The Science That Refuses to Behave dives into, swims and surfs through a universe (our universe, in fact) full of unexpected science. Published by India Penguin [ISBN 9780143470403], the book’s official debut date is February 28, 2026. Here’s how Sarraju describes the book: After […]
Whether you prefer to be eaten or to eat, you can pretend to indulge your preference by doing what the people in this study did: “Impersonating Predators and Prey to Study Trophic Interactions Through Real-Life Simulations,” David Bolduc, Frédéric Dulude-de Broin, Gabriel Bergeron, Catherine Villeneuve, Matthieu Weiss-Blais, Clément Couloigner, Rachel Dubourg, Maxime Fraser-Franco, Francis Banville, […]
The March 2026 issue of mini-AIR, our teeny tiny free little e-newsletter of overflow detritus that did not fit in the magazine (Annals of Improbable Research), has just gone out. The issue contains info about research on the topic of “Fallacy Fallacy.” It includes the winning entry in the competition to a limerick competition to […]
Some people have strange beliefs about the ear and its malformations. If you are one of those people, and you are curious about what some people in other times and places may have believed, listen to the authors of this study: “The Ear and its Malformations: Strange Beliefs and Misconceptions,” Irene E. Gamatsi, Thomas P. […]
The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society is one of the few organizations that overtly, consistently appreciates what are now more commonly known as telephone poles. They have a web site. This photo of a pole that the society has named the “Charlie Warmington Memorial Pole” appears on that site: