weird science

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Ig Nobel Winners Include Studies of Nose Hairs, 'Necrobotics'

Dead spiders were used to create gripping tools

(Newser) - Counting nose hairs in cadavers, repurposing dead spiders, and explaining why scientists lick rocks are among the winning achievements in this year's Ig Nobels, the prize for humorous scientific feats, organizers announced Thursday. The 33rd annual prize ceremony was a prerecorded online event, as it has been since the...

Studies of Doorknobs, Intoxicating Enemas Win Ig Nobel Prizes

Weird science prizes also went to teams studying constipated scorpions, legal language

(Newser) - Researchers who studied the sex lives of constipated scorpions were among the winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes, the annual celebration of weird and wonderful scientific research. Because of what organizers at the Annals of Improbable Research called the "lurking ambitions" of COVID-19, this year's ceremony...

The Weirdest Science Is Once Again Lauded
The Weirdest Science
Is Once Again Lauded
THE RUNDOWN
Sep 10, 2021 7:00 AM CDT

The Weirdest Science Is Once Again Lauded

The Ig Nobel peace prize went to a team that looked at how beards evolved

(Newser) - This year's Ig Nobel prizes were handed out virtually for the second year in a row—but the science involved was as delightfully weird as ever. Winners of the prizes for unusual research, which are usually awarded at a Harvard ceremony, included a team that determined transporting rhinos hanging...

'Chocolate Frog' Discovered in New Guinea Swamp

Beautiful brown amphibian is likely related to Australian tree frogs

(Newser) - No, it's not Harry Potter magic invading the world of muggles. It's just a surprisingly cool skin color. Some frogs, possibly a new species of tree frog, have been found in New Guinea. Tree frogs are usually green, but these look like they've been dipped in...

Boss Revenge, Cannibal Calories Win Ig Nobels

'We wanted to understand why subordinates retaliate when it's bad for them'

(Newser) - Anyone who's ever been so furious with their boss that they feel like exacting revenge really needs to listen to Lindie Liang. The Wilfrid Laurier University professor of business and her colleagues found that abusing a virtual voodoo doll instead of your boss will make you feel better without...

New Asteroid Flies Backward, Comes From Another Sun

Known as 2015 BZ509, it's only the second of its kind ever found

(Newser) - Just months after the discovery of our first known interstellar visitor , it turns out there's another asteroid from yet another star system residing in our cosmic club in plain view. Per the AP , scientists reported Monday that this interstellar resident is an asteroid sharing Jupiter's orbit but circling...

Berlin is Abuzz With Beehives on Roofs Across the City

It's part of an initiative to help declining pollinators

(Newser) - Beekeeper Uwe Marth pulls out a honeycomb produced in the hive he tends beneath the dome of the neo-baroque landmark in the German capital—and home to perhaps 30,000 bees. The hive on the riverside Protestant cathedral is one of more than 15 on prominent Berlin buildings that are...

Ig Nobel: See This Year's Goofiest Science Prizes

Studies of big ears and crocodiles' effect on gamblers were among the winners

(Newser) - Scientists who discovered that old men really do have big ears, that playing the didgeridoo helps relieve sleep apnea, and that handling crocodiles can influence gambling decisions are among this year's recipients of the Ig Nobel , the prize for absurd scientific achievement. The 27th annual awards were announced Thursday...

Weird Science Is Honored Once a Year. 'Goat Man' Won Big

Rat trousers also a winner at Thursday's Ig Nobel Prizes

(Newser) - Thursday night was the silliest night in scientists' calendars, and with winners including a man who wore prosthetic extensions to live among a herd of goats in the Alps for several days, this year's Ig Nobel awards did not disappoint. In front of a rowdy crowd, real Nobel winners...

Sharks Have a Sixth Sense for Killing, Literally

They're better at sensing electric fields than even our best tools

(Newser) - It turns out there's something sharks are even better at than spicing up your average made-for-TV movie about tornadoes: sensing electricity. Back in 1971, a Dutch scientist discovered sharks use tiny pores on their heads to sense the electric fields produced by other aquatic animals—and hunt those creatures,...

One Man Lost Most of His Brain and Didn't Even Notice

Doctors astounded as married father of two goes about life with very little brain matter

(Newser) - As it turns out maybe the Scarecrow didn't need that brain after all. Real Clear Science revisits a bizarre case from 2007 in which a relatively normal 44-year-old man—married, two kids, job—turned out to have been going about his life without most of his brain. In fact,...

Meet World's New Horrifying Fish

New species of anglerfish discovered at nearly 5K feet in the Gulf of Mexico

(Newser) - It seems like every time humans venture to the ocean's depths, they return with a terrifying new type of fish; and the recently discovered Lasiognathus regan is certainly no exception. CNN describes the new species of anglerfish as looking like a "hunchbacked, rotting, old shoe with spikes, a...

Scientists Grow Chicken Embryos With Dino Snouts

As part of an effort to learn about beak evolution

(Newser) - It sounds straight out of Jurassic Park: Researchers have successfully created chicken embryos with what LiveScience frames as Velociraptor-like snouts. It's an end that has its beginning in a bird-dino quandary described by Carl Zimmer at the New York Times : "Even the most exquisitely preserved fossil can't...

Weird Feat: Teen Can Lick Her Own Eye

Adrianne Lewis' 4-inch-long tongue is an Internet star

(Newser) - What would you do if you had a tongue as long as a playing card? For 18-year-old Adrianne Lewis, making YouTube videos showing off the various tricks she can do with her estimated 4-inch-long tongue seemed like a great way to gain some Internet fame. The Michigan teen uploaded her...

Ig Nobel Prizes Honor Research on Pork and Poop

Annual ceremony celebrates the year's wackiest scientific pursuits

(Newser) - More than 1,000 people gathered at Harvard's Sanders Theatre yesterday to celebrate the 24th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, which includes such traditions as throwing paper airplanes and seeing who wins a date with a Nobel laureate. But the real treat is the science itself—which, in addition...

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