"Telomeres: keeping your cells alive since forever."
November 28, 2014 11:40 AM Subscribe
"Thanks to enzymes, humans are solar-powered."
24th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony & Lectures.
Whereupon guests win dates with scientists, scientists describe their work in seven words, and listeners are regaled with dramatic readings of recipes from The Ig Nobel Cookbook (volume 1).
Footage from the NSA Courtesy Cam.
Footage of the ceremony's livestream.
That is all.
Whereupon guests win dates with scientists, scientists describe their work in seven words, and listeners are regaled with dramatic readings of recipes from The Ig Nobel Cookbook (volume 1).
Footage from the NSA Courtesy Cam.
Footage of the ceremony's livestream.
That is all.
The guy with the flashlight: Painted silver-blue, or consumer of colloidal silver?
posted by clawsoon at 11:56 AM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 11:56 AM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.
That is a grant proposal I want to read.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:34 PM on November 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
That is a grant proposal I want to read.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:34 PM on November 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.
But this seems to me like a question worth asking:
While experiencing physical pain does looking at certain images reduce the perception of that pain? Or more broadly what is the effectiveness of treating pain through visual stimulus?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:44 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
But this seems to me like a question worth asking:
While experiencing physical pain does looking at certain images reduce the perception of that pain? Or more broadly what is the effectiveness of treating pain through visual stimulus?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:44 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Twelve scientists from three countries on two continents worked to "document that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north-south geomagnetic field lines."
posted by clawsoon at 1:01 PM on November 28, 2014
posted by clawsoon at 1:01 PM on November 28, 2014
But this seems to me like a question worth asking:
It is very much worth asking. The Ig Nobel prizes are not awarded for stupid research, but for strange research. To quote the "About" page:
It is very much worth asking. The Ig Nobel prizes are not awarded for stupid research, but for strange research. To quote the "About" page:
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK.posted by Tau Wedel at 1:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [7 favorites]
> That is a grant proposal I want to read.
That is an IRB committee review meeting I would have attended.
posted by ardgedee at 1:57 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
That is an IRB committee review meeting I would have attended.
posted by ardgedee at 1:57 PM on November 28, 2014 [2 favorites]
"Twelve scientists from three countries on two continents worked to "document that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north-south geomagnetic field lines.""
I checked and found that the toilet in our house is also north-south aligned. Coincidence? I will ponder this question the same way I am typing this comment: while sitting on my geomagnetically aligned porcelain throne.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:33 PM on November 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
I checked and found that the toilet in our house is also north-south aligned. Coincidence? I will ponder this question the same way I am typing this comment: while sitting on my geomagnetically aligned porcelain throne.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:33 PM on November 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
That's probably why potty-training my daughter has been such a lengthy process: Hardly anything in Toronto is geomagnetically aligned.
posted by clawsoon at 2:48 PM on November 28, 2014
posted by clawsoon at 2:48 PM on November 28, 2014
Addendum: A link to an online compendium of The 24/7 Lectures, from 2001-2014.
posted by simulacra at 2:55 PM on November 28, 2014
posted by simulacra at 2:55 PM on November 28, 2014
"for making two related discoveries: First, that the longer a cow has been lying down, the more likely that cow will soon stand up; and Second, that once a cow stands up, you cannot easily predict how soon that cow will lie down again."
Obviously these scientists haven't heard that when cows stand up it means it is going to be sunny and that when they sit down it is going to rain. When asked what it means when half of them are standing up and half of them are sitting down, an old farmer told me "That means they can't make up their mind."
posted by eye of newt at 3:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
Obviously these scientists haven't heard that when cows stand up it means it is going to be sunny and that when they sit down it is going to rain. When asked what it means when half of them are standing up and half of them are sitting down, an old farmer told me "That means they can't make up their mind."
posted by eye of newt at 3:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.
But this seems to me like a question worth asking
Just to chip in that comparable studies with music therapy for pain reduction were done ages ago.
posted by yoHighness at 3:39 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
But this seems to me like a question worth asking
Just to chip in that comparable studies with music therapy for pain reduction were done ages ago.
posted by yoHighness at 3:39 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK of how to use them to get science defunded in the U.S.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:30 PM on November 28, 2014
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:30 PM on November 28, 2014
...my geomagnetically aligned porcelain throne.
My terlet is aligned on an east-west axis. For thirty years, that has not stopped anyone in this house from taking care of biznezz. On the contrary, several family members perform with great gusto.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:23 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
My terlet is aligned on an east-west axis. For thirty years, that has not stopped anyone in this house from taking care of biznezz. On the contrary, several family members perform with great gusto.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:23 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Twelve scientists from three countries on two continents worked to "document that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north-south geomagnetic field lines."
Since this was originally reported, I've been keeping an informal track of my dogs pooping.
Finlay The High Maintenance Vizsla tends to point into the breeze. Absent that, he aligns himself with whatever he is near - usually one wall or the other of the garage. He loves pooping next to the garage.
Monty - well, he doesn't plan his poops. He's usually surprised to find himself pooping - not a lot of communication between his front brain and his butt brain. This is the same dog that once fell over trying to get away from his own rear foot trying to scratch his own face. Anyway, his orientation is basically random as near as I can tell.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Since this was originally reported, I've been keeping an informal track of my dogs pooping.
Finlay The High Maintenance Vizsla tends to point into the breeze. Absent that, he aligns himself with whatever he is near - usually one wall or the other of the garage. He loves pooping next to the garage.
Monty - well, he doesn't plan his poops. He's usually surprised to find himself pooping - not a lot of communication between his front brain and his butt brain. This is the same dog that once fell over trying to get away from his own rear foot trying to scratch his own face. Anyway, his orientation is basically random as near as I can tell.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:10 PM on November 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
when cows stand up it means it is going to be sunny and that when they sit down it is going to rain
Not only that, but if you look at the cows in any paddock as you're driving past, you'll see they're all facing the same way.
Like people in an elevator.
Mooooo
posted by flabdablet at 9:54 AM on November 29, 2014
Not only that, but if you look at the cows in any paddock as you're driving past, you'll see they're all facing the same way.
Like people in an elevator.
Mooooo
posted by flabdablet at 9:54 AM on November 29, 2014
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posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:53 AM on November 28, 2014