Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 25

The further exploits, in Spain, of Tamagotchi

The newspaper La Vanguardia reports about a new revival of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning virtual pet:

Tamagotchi lives in Barcelona

For an entire generation, Tamagotchi represented a toy that carried responsibility. Those first virtual pets that lived in oval-shaped devices caused a real sensation around the world. Its fame was so great that its authors, Akihiro Yokoi, from Wiz Company, and Aki Maita, from Bandai, were awarded the parodic Ig Nobel Prizes in 1997, in the Economics category, “for converting millions of hours of work into wasted time.” in taking care of virtual pets”. Since then, those tiny beings, the tamagotchis, have lived among us, whether in the form of a device or later video games. The last one, Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom , was born in Barcelona….

 

A visit to the Museum of Bad Art

The Art, Inc. television program visited our friends and colleagues at the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA). This video is the result of that visit:

Video of the very first* Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event

Ig Nobel Face-to-Face is a new companion event to the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The new Ig Nobel Prize winners gather together to ask each other questions about their work.  Each won their prize for doing something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony happened on September 14, 2023 — and the very first Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event happened two months later. Today we are releasing a video of that happy occasion, held at the MIT Museum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 14, 2023.

The discussions were shepherded by: • MARC ABRAHAMS, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research • KAREN HOPKIN, biochemist, coauthor of the textbook Essential Cell Biology, and creator of the Studmuffins of Science calendar • DANY ADAMS, pioneer in the field of bioelectricity, and Chief Science Officer of Lucell Diagnostics • ERIC MASKIN, professor of economics at Harvard University, and Nobel laureate in economics.

*HISTORICAL NOTE

The headline on this blog post (“Video of the very first* Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event”) is slightly untrue. The very VERY first Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event was a test of the concept, held at Stanford University on March 22, 2023. Special thanks to Stanford professor JAMES ZOU for hosting that event!

SEGMENTS IN THIS VIDEO

00:00 – The traditional Ig Nobel “Welcome, Welcome” speech — delivered by KATHRYN GUNSCH, assistant director of the MIT Museum

03:52 -First of the four discussion groups:

06:15 • CHRISTINE PHAM, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize — for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils

07:13 • CHRIS MOULIN, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Literature Prize— for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times

08:23 • BIEITO FERNÁNDEZ CASTRO, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Physics Prize — for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies 09:38 – First group discussion

24:10 – Second of the four discussion groups:

26:39 • KATY TAM, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Education Prize — for methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students • MIGUEL GILCOTO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Physics Prize — for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies

27:41 • ADOLFO GARCÍA, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Communication Prize — for studying the mental activities of people who are expert at speaking backward

28:57 – Second group discussion

44:03 – Third of the four discussion groups:

46:37 • TE FAYE YAP, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Mechanical Engineering Prize — for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools • AKIRA O’CONNOR, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Literature Prize — for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times

47:33 • HOMEI MIYASHITA, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize winner — for experiments to determine how electrified chopsticks and drinking straws can change the taste of food

48:45 – Third group discussion

1:04:01 Fourth of the four discussion groups: • NATASHA MESINKOVSKA, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize — for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils. • DANIEL PRESTON, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Mechanical Engineering Prize — for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools • CHRISTIAN CHAN, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Education Prize — for methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students

1:06:05 • SEUNG-MIN PARK, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize — for inventing the Stanford Toilet, a device that uses a variety of technologies — including a urinalysis dipstick test strip, a computer vision system for defecation analysis, an anal-print sensor paired with an identification camera, and a telecommunications link — to monitor and quickly analyze the substances that humans excrete

1:08:47 – Fourth group discussion

1:23:59 – Thank you

1:26:06 – Pointless photo op

1:27:10 – Group recitation of “The”

Video of the very first Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event

Ig Nobel Face-to-Face is a new companion event to the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The new Ig Nobel Prize winners gather together to ask each other questions about their work.  Each won their prize for doing something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony happened on September 14, 2023 — and the very first Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event happened two months later. Today we are releasing a video of that happy occasion, held at the MIT Museum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 14, 2023.

The discussions were shepherded by: • MARC ABRAHAMS, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research • KAREN HOPKIN, biochemist, coauthor of the textbook Essential Cell Biology, and creator of the Studmuffins of Science calendar • DANY ADAMS, pioneer in the field of bioelectricity, and Chief Science Officer of Lucell Diagnostics • ERIC MASKIN, professor of economics at Harvard University, and Nobel laureate in economics.

SEGMENTS IN THIS VIDEO

00:00 – The traditional Ig Nobel “Welcome, Welcome” speech — delivered by KATHRYN GUNSCH, assistant director of the MIT Museum

03:52 -First of the four discussion groups:

06:15 • CHRISTINE PHAM, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize — for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils

07:13 • CHRIS MOULIN, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Literature Prize— for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times

08:23 • BIEITO FERNÁNDEZ CASTRO, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Physics Prize — for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies 09:38 – First group discussion

24:10 – Second of the four discussion groups:

26:39 • KATY TAM, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Education Prize — for methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students • MIGUEL GILCOTO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Physics Prize — for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies

27:41 • ADOLFO GARCÍA, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Communication Prize — for studying the mental activities of people who are expert at speaking backward

28:57 – Second group discussion

44:03 – Third of the four discussion groups:

46:37 • TE FAYE YAP, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Mechanical Engineering Prize — for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools • AKIRA O’CONNOR, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Literature Prize — for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times

47:33 • HOMEI MIYASHITA, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize winner — for experiments to determine how electrified chopsticks and drinking straws can change the taste of food

48:45 – Third group discussion

1:04:01 Fourth of the four discussion groups: • NATASHA MESINKOVSKA, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize — for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils. • DANIEL PRESTON, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Mechanical Engineering Prize — for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools • CHRISTIAN CHAN, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Education Prize — for methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students

1:06:05 • SEUNG-MIN PARK, 1 MIN INTRO, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize — for inventing the Stanford Toilet, a device that uses a variety of technologies — including a urinalysis dipstick test strip, a computer vision system for defecation analysis, an anal-print sensor paired with an identification camera, and a telecommunications link — to monitor and quickly analyze the substances that humans excrete

1:08:47 – Fourth group discussion

1:23:59 – Thank you

1:26:06 – Pointless photo op

1:27:10 – Group recitation of “The”

Scare Effect of Robotic Dino Wing Flaps on Insects

If some dinosaurs had wings and flapped them would that frighten insects into fleeing? This study tried to tease out a likely answer, by making and using a dino-like robot. The video shows some of what happened.

The study is: “Escape behaviors in prey and the evolution of pennaceous plumage in dinosaurs,” Jinseok Park, Minyoung Son, Jeongyeol Park, Sang Yun Bang, Jungmoon Ha, Hyungpil Moon, Yuong-Nam Lee, Sang-im Lee, and Piotr G. Jablonski, Scientific Reports, vol. 14, article 549, 2024. The authors write:

“We evaluated the escape behavior of grasshoppers to hypothetical visual flush-displays by a robotic dinosaur, and we recorded neurophysiological responses of grasshoppers’ escape pathway to computer animations of the hypothetical flush-displays by dinosaurs. We show that the prey of dinosaurs would have fled more often when proto-wings were present, especially distally and with contrasting patterns, and when caudal plumage, especially of a large area, was used during the hypothetical flush-displays.”

 

Reminiscent of Two Ig Nobel Prize-winning studies

This study evokes memories of two projects that won Ig Nobel Prizes.

The 2015 Ig Nobel Prize for biology was awarded to Bruno Grossi, Omar Larach, Mauricio Canals, Rodrigo A. Vásquez, and José Iriarte-Díaz, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked.

They documented that work in the study “Walking Like Dinosaurs: Chickens with Artificial Tails Provide Clues about Non-Avian Theropod Locomotion,” Bruno Grossi, José Iriarte-Díaz, Omar Larach, Mauricio Canals, Rodrigo A. Vásquez, PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 2, 2014, e88458. The paper is accompanied by a video:

 

The 2005 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie “Star Wars.”

They documented that work in the study“Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects,” F.C. Rind and P.J. Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-66.

 

A new prize for Ig Nobel Prize-winning heartbeat romance researcher Mariska Kret

Congratulations to 2022 Ig Nobel Prize winner Mariska Kret, for winning a new prize. Leiden University, her home institution, announces:

Mariska Kret receives new science prize for groundbreaking research

05 February 2024 — Professor Mariska Kret has received the Mercator Sapiens Stimulus, a new science prize from the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). The prize consists of a sum of 1m euros.

The prize is for a talented young scientist who conducts innovative, groundbreaking research. Kret conducts research into emotions from a comparative and evolutionary perspective. She researches emotions in not only humans but also animal species that are closely related to humans, such as chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. This involves working with various zoos and using new methods.

The earlier, other prize

The Mercator Sapiens Stimulus is a much more currently lucrative prize than the prize Kret received two years ago. (Ig Nobel Prize winners are awarded a ten trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe.)

In 2022 Mariska Kret and colleagues Eliska Prochazkova, Elio Sjak-Shie, Friederike Behrens, Daniel Lindh were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Applied Cardiology, for seeking and finding evidence that when new romantic partners meet for the first time, and feel attracted to each other, their heart rates synchronize.

They documented that research, in the study  “Physiological Synchrony is Associated with Attraction in a Blind Date Setting,” Eliska Prochazkova, Elio Sjak-Shie, Friederike Behrens, Daniel Lindh, and Mariska E. Kret, Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 6, no. 2, 2022, pp. 269-278.
<https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01197-3>

Here’s video of that Ig Nobel Prize presentation in 2022:

youtube.com/clip/UgkxaDRZcedEAI5McauEen6QBIP2ywHGmNx7?si=9IxP2B7FB2pfz6kH

 

Space minister and emptiness, Bass notes on musical fish, Light patient amusement, Loop soup

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them:

Space politics — The UK is successfully playing catch-up with the US in boosting politicians who speak knowingly of the vast, mostly empty depths of the universe.The UK’s new space minister, Andrew Griffith – his official title is minister of state for science, research and innovation – granted an interview to Tali Fraser of The House magazine. Griffith apparently gave her a demonstration of how education happens: “He points to the suspended sphere in the Science Museum that switches appearance from planet to planet and declares ‘now we have got Mars!’ only for an employee to gently tell him it is, in fact, the Sun. Undeterred, Griffith exclaims ‘that one is Saturn!’ as the planet changes. The employee interjects: ‘No, no, that is Jupiter’.” …Bass notes — Andy Howe sings praise of a somewhat musical discovery about a fish that spends much of its time at the muddy sea bottom. Does Andy Howe find joy in the details? And how! He says: “I draw your attention to ‘Midbrain node for context-specific vocalisation in fish’ (published in the journal Nature Communications) which concerns the distinctly fishy noises of Plainfin Midshipman, the species which is also known as ‘Californian Singing Fish‘….Light amusement — Retired physician John Innes rallied to Feedback’s call (9 December 2023) for first-hand testimony that refutes or confirms the old saying “the art of medicine consists mostly of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease”. He first sets the scene…Loop soup — What is loop soup? Hard to say. Hard to say concisely, that is. Wojtek Furmanski and Adam Kolawa at the California Institute of Technology apparently injected the phrase into the physics world in 1987, in the middle of a 35-page paper called “Yang-Mills vacuum: An attempt at lattice loop calculus“, published in the journal Nuclear Physics B. They mention loop soup only once. …

The Sewage and Cheese Whey Adventure

This week’s Research Adventure study is:

“Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Using Sewage and Cheese Whey,” by Young-Cheol Chang, M. Venkateswar Reddy, Yusei Tsukiori, Yasuteru Mawatari, and DuBok Choi (published in Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 12, December 2023, article e23130).

Chopped Finger Food, AI and Troublesome Sheep, Stomach Flushing in San Marino

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them:

Corporate determinism — Nominative determinism occurs not just to people, but also to companies. This is evident from an Associated Press report about a lawsuit aimed at a firm named Chopt Creative Salad Company: “The lawsuit filed Monday by Allison Cozzi of Greenwich, Connecticut, alleges that she bought a salad at a Chopt location in Mount Kisco, New York, on April 7, 2023, and realized while eating it that ‘she was chewing on a portion of a human finger that had been mixed in to, and made a part of, the salad.’ According to the suit, a manager at the restaurant accidentally severed a piece of her left pointer finger while chopping arugula.” …AI and troublesome sheep — Pertinent to recent discussions of whether computational image-processing systems are good at counting sheep (Feedback, 29 July 2023), a question arises: What about unruly sheep? A study called “An image detection model for aggressive behavior of group sheep” claims victory, to a degree, in spotting troublemaking sheep….Spill your guts — Stomach flushing is at the heart of one of the few scientific research reports about life in San Marino. The tiny republic is landlocked in the mountains of northern Italy and is home to about 30,000 people. “Using the harmless technique of stomach flushing,” the researchers explain, “we inspected the stomach contents of 67 individuals….A flush of turtles — Stomach flushing has its limits. A 2008 experiment by scientists in Brazil and Italy tried to compare the munchies that came into turtles and what came out of those turtles. Their report about it is called “Stomach flushing vs. fecal analysis: The example of Phrynops rufipes (Testudines: Chelidae)“. “We successfully stomach flushed all 31 adult turtles captured and collected feces from ten of the flushed turtles,” they say. “Our results show…

Underwear for an Un-Stinky Marriage

“Husband Invents Fart-Proof Undies For Love” is the title of this video by 60 Second Docs, about Buck and Arlene Weimer, winners of the 2001 Ig Nobel Biology Prize: