I can’t believe I hadn’t come across this until now (but then, the World Wide Web is a rather large place [if it’s a place at all (and how many paranthetical [like this] statements can one put in a single sentence, anyway?)]): Michael C. LaBarbera, a University of Chicago biologist, has taken a scientific look …
Tag: humor
The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2003
May I have the envelope please…it’s time to once again inform my faithful readers of the results of the Ig Nobel Prizes, given annually by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research to those who have done something that first makes people laugh, then makes them think. This year’s winners received a solid gold …
The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2002
It’s time again to announce the winners of some of the most prestigious prizes in science. No, not THOSE. I’m not talking about the IgNobel Prizes, awarded annually by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research to those who have done something that first makes people laugh, then makes them think; or, to put …
The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2001
Each year, the Nobel Prize Committee in Sweden honors outstanding scientific research from around the world. And each year, just before the Nobel Prizes are awarded, the IgNobel Prize Committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts, awards the IgNobel Prizes to honor people whose achievements “cannot or should not be reproduced.” The IgNobels, sponsored by the scientific humor …
The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2000
This is the time of the year when the winners of the prestigious Nobel Prizes are announced with great fanfare and acclaim. That’s all well and good, but the real Nobel Prizes, frankly, take themselves far too seriously. They tend to support the prevailing belief that science is stuffy, boring, and, well, nobel–er, noble. Fortunately, …
The Ig Nobel Prizes of 1999
Some people think scientists are a dour, serious lot. For proof they are nothing of the sort, look no further than the scientific awards ceremony held last week at Harvard University. The most famous scientific awards are, of course, the Nobel Prizes. These were not those. These were the Ig Nobel Prizes, which annually honors …
‘T’was the nocturnal time of the preceding day to the day we call Christmas
With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore ‘Twas the nocturnal time of the preceding day To the day we call Christmas (which is, by the way, Just a modern twist on the eons-old fight To use feast and fire to end winter’s night). And all through our dwelling (a.k.a. the house), Not a creature was stirring, …
Aerotarandusdynamics: the science of flying reindeer
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//1995/12/The-Science-of-Flying-Reindeer.mp3[/podcast] At this festive season, aerotarandusdynamics, one of the least-known branches of the vast tree of science, finally comes into its own. “Aerotarandusdynamics” comes from “aero,” air, “tarandus,” the latter part of the scientific name for reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, and “dynamics,” moving. Hence, aerotarandusdynamics is the study of reindeer moving through the air: flying reindeer. …
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeerigible
Another Christmas Eve, another lonely rooftop vigil for aerotarandusdynamicists around the– What’s an “aerotarandusdynamicist”? Perhaps a recap is in order. I have written before about the under-funded field of aerotarandusdynamics. The word, like all good scientific words, is a Latin amalgam: “aero” (air), “tarandus” (part of the scientific name for reindeer, “rangifer tarandus”) and “dynamics” …
Laughter
At a dinner party I recently attended, the hosts commented on having seen the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral during their vacation cruise. Several of us immediately began waxing eloquent about the film’s delightful humor. Whereupon our hosts concluded their assessment, which we had interrupted in our enthusiasm: they’d been bored stiff. A sense of humor …
Clausotechnolometry: the study of the technology of Santa
A couple of Christmases ago I wrote about aerotarandusdynamics: the study of flying reindeer. In passing, I mentioned their mysterious master, one “Santa Claus.” Now scientists are studying him, too, trying to understand the advanced technology this “jolly old elf” (as one authority describes him) uses yearly in his Christmas crusade. These scientists are “clausotechnolometrists.” …
My latest live walk and vlog
Buy Autographed Books
