Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 3

An Ig Look Back: Why Cats Can Be Considered Both a Solid and a Liquid

This drawing by artist Becky Moon celebrates the 2017 Ig Nobel Physics Prize, which was awarded to Marc-Antoine Fardin, for using fluid dynamics to probe the question “Can a Cat Be Both a Solid and a Liquid?” He documented that research, in the paper “On the Rheology of Cats,” Marc-Antoine Fardin, Rheology Bulletin, vol. 83, no. 2, […]

Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony TICKETS are now on sale

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded at the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday evening, September 18, 2025. Ten new winners will be honored for doing things that make people LAUGH, then THINK. TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS to attend the ceremony are now on sale. Details about the ceremony (and webcast, and […]

Insights gleaned from the adventures of a dead fish (and other fish)

Jimmy Liao, who was awarded the 2024 Ig Nobel Physics Prize, for for demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout, did this TED Talk about some of his experience. It’s titled “What studying fish teaches me about human life”: His Ig-winning research studies are: “Neuromuscular Control of Trout Swimming in a Vortex […]

Tom Lehrer is gone

  Tom Lehrer died a few days ago. For many of us involved in any way with science or math (or many other things, too!), his songs were and are a deep and lasting and gleefully sharp influence. [The photo here shows Tom and a bunch of us having coffee about twenty years ago. One […]

Touchscreen Tasks for Cognitive Testing in Domestic Goats

Computer availability all too often has been limited to humans. This study is one of several attempts by various people to remedy that limitation: “Touchscreen Tasks for Cognitive Testing in Domestic Goats (Capra hircus): A Pilot Study Using Odd-Item Search Training,” Jie Gao, Yumi Yamanashi, and Masayuki Tanaka, Animals, vol. 15, no. 14, 2025, article […]

The Impracticality of Panting at Other Frequencies

When a dog pants, it generally pants at a particular frequency. This study explains that that frequency is practical, and further, that “The impracticality of panting at other frequencies is shown by calculation.” The study is: “Mechanical Aspects of Panting in Dogs,” Eugene C. Crawford Jr., Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 17, no. 2, March […]

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony will happen on September 18

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded at the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday evening, September 18, 2025. Ten new winners will be honored for doing things that make people LAUGH, then THINK. TICKETS to attend the ceremony will go on sale in late July, via the ceremony web page. Details […]

Coffee for the Road, Literally for the Road [research study]

If your idea of “coffee for the road” is limited to drinking coffee while you are driving a car on a road, this research study can expand your mental horizon: “Rheology and microstructure effects of waste spent coffee grounds in modifying asphalt binder,” Mingjun Xie, Linglin Xu, Kai Wu, Yutong Wen, Hongmi Jiang, and Zhengwu […]

Coffee for the Road [research study]

If your idea of “coffee for the road” is limited to drinking coffee while you are driving a car on a road, this research study can expand your mental horizon: “Rheology and microstructure effects of waste spent coffee grounds in modifying asphalt binder,” Mingjun Xie, Linglin Xu, Kai Wu, Yutong Wen, Hongmi Jiang, and Zhengwu […]

The special DIGESTION or INDIGESTION issue of the magazine (Improbable Research)

The special DIGESTION or INDIGESTION issue (volume 31, number 4, July/August 2025) of the magazine Annals of Improbable Research has gone go out to subscribers. Even if you are not a subscriber you can read several of its articles online free, for looks at many aspects of digestion and/or indigestion: Digestion: Input Digestion: Descent Digestion: Bowel Acoustics […]