This Ig Nobel-winning research is shedding light on how ultrasound waves could be used to non-invasively control nerve impulses (and therefore ‘thoughts’) in our brains.
Ig Nobels reward research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. Investigating the internet meme of fluid felines fits the bill – and adds to the physics field of rheology.
The one-metre long relatives of this snappy croc at the Koorana Crocodile Farm, near Rockhampton, helped test the betting risks of potential gamblers.
Flickr/Michael Gorey
Research that studied the pokie risks gamblers were prepared to take after they held a live crocodile has been awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.
Smell, sight, sounds – they all change how you perceive food.
Shutterstock
The discovery that “Huh?” crops up in many languages may have won the researchers an Ig Nobel Prize. But they found much more than that in their search for the universals in language.
You don’t always have to be serious to be a successful academic.
Flickr/kennysarmy
The pathway to academic success is not always about the number of papers you’ve published. Some have found that a sense of humour can be just as useful.
Akshat Rathi, The Conversation and Flora Lisica, The Conversation
The 24th Ig Nobel prizes were announced on September 18. The prizes annually award scientific research that “first makes people laugh and then makes them think.” The ceremony was food-themed including…
Mark Jackson, Centre de Cosmologie Physique de Paris
When physicist Richard Feynman was asked which now-deceased person from history he would most like to speak with, and what he would say, he said: “My father. I would tell him that I won the Nobel Prize…
The psychology prize winners confirmed what we’ve long known: people think they’re more attractive after a few beers.
Image from shutterstock.com
Science can be a funny way to make a living, with the profession full of oddball characters. It seems only right that the bizarre, the absurd and the obsessive in science and medicine should be celebrated…
Dung beetles love the Milky Way because they use it for navigation. No, seriously they do.
mattvisser
This year’s Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on September 12 at a meeting of nerds at Harvard University. The prizes are given for genuine scientific research that “first makes people laugh and then makes…
Success is sweet – and maybe more so than we knew.
etringita
Want to win a Nobel prize? You might increase your chances by eating more chocolate, according to a letter in Nature last Thursday. The research, which outlines a survey of chocolate consumption of 23…
Pick a card, any card - and maybe a research paper too.
Micah Taylor
Think of your favourite magic trick. Is it as grandiose as David Copperfield’s Death Saw, or is it as simple as making a coin disappear in front of your very eyes? These two very different tricks have…
Warning: This article may contain traces of jokes about penises – most unintended.
Lynie
How important is penis size? Authors from the Australian National University, Monash and La Trobe provide the most complete answer yet: the size of a flaccid penis can significantly affect how attractive…
The bizarre stuff that has been researched is staggering.
Judy Keys
You will have heard of the Ig Nobel prizes. These have been given out at Harvard University by real Nobel laureates since 1991, at a ceremony in which participants dress up in weird and wonderful garb…
While it may make you unpopular, cracking your knuckles won’t cause arthritis.
Flickr/orijinal
For some it’s a morning ritual – cracking your knuckles before beginning the day. For others, it’s a way to pass time while pondering a thought or reading something particularly interesting online. But…