Improbable Research

Latest Episodes:

Episode #1095: “Saliva and Frog Puppets” May 22, 2022

Show notes

In Podcast Episode #1095, Marc Abrahams shows an unfamiliar research study to psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason. Dramatic readings and reactions ensue.

Remember, our Patreon donors, on most levels, get access to each podcast episode before it is made public.

Jean Berko Gleason encounters:

“A Salivary Collection Method for Young Children,” Laura K. Zimmermann, Psychophysiology, vol. 45, no. 3, May 2008, pp. 353-355.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1094: “Can You Navigate in a Crowd, While Distracted by Your Mobile Phone?” May 08, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1094, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Kinetics winners Hisashi Murakami, Claudio Feliciani, Yuta Nishiyama, and Katsuhiro Nishinari. They received the prize for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do sometimes collide with other pedestrians.

REFERENCE: “Mutual Anticipation Can Contribute to Self-Organization in Human Crowds,” Hisashi Murakami, Claudio Feliciani, Yuta Nishiyama, and Katsuhiro Nishinari, Science Advances, vol. 7, no. 12, 2021, p. eabe7758.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1093: “Why Pedestrians Do Not Constantly Collide” Apr 24, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1093, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Physics winners Alessandro Corbetta, Jasper Meeusen, Chung-min Lee, Roberto Benzi, and Federico Toschi. They received the prize for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do not constantly collide with other pedestrians.

REFERENCE: “Physics-based modeling and data representation of pairwise interactions among pedestrians,” Alessandro Corbetta, Jasper A. Meeusen, Chung-min Lee, Roberto Benzi, and Federico Toschi, Physical Review E, vol. 98, no. 062310, 20188.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1092: “The Bacteria in Discarded, Chewed Chewing Gum” Apr 10, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1092, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Ecology winners Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, and Manuel Porcar. They received the prize for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in wads of discarded chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.

REFERENCE: “The Wasted Chewing Gum Bacteriome,” Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, and Manuel Porcar, Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 16846, 2020.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1091: “Hula Hoop Syndrome” Mar 27, 2022

Show notes

In Podcast Episode #1091, Marc Abrahams shows an unfamiliar research study to psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason. Dramatic readings and reactions ensue.

Remember, our Patreon donors, on most levels, get access to each podcast episode before it is made public.

Jean Berko Gleason encounters:

“Hula-Hoop Syndrome,” Zafar H. Zaidi, Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 80, no. 9, May 1, 1959, pp. 715-716.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1090: “Obesity of Politicians, Corruption in Countries” Mar 13, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1090, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Economics winners Pavlo Blavatskyy. They received the prize for discovering that the obesity of a country’s politicians may be a good indicator of that country’s corruption.

REFERENCE: “Obesity of Politicians and Corruption in Post‐Soviet Countries,” Pavlo Blavatskyy, Economic of Transition and Institutional Change, vol. 29, no. 2, 2021, pp. 343-356.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1089: “Inverted Rhino Translocation” Feb 27, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1089, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Transportation winners Robin Radcliffe, Mark Jago, Peter Morkel, Estelle Morkel, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Birgit Kotting, Bakker Manuel, Jan Hendrik du Preez, Michele Miller, Julia Felippe, Stephen Parry, and Robin Gleed. They received the prize for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down.

REFERENCE: “The Pulmonary and Metabolic Effects of Suspension by the Feet Compared with Lateral Recumbency in Immobilized Black Rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) Captured by Aerial Darting,” Robin W. Radcliffe, Mark Jago, Peter vdB Morkel, Estelle Morkel, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Birgit Kotting, Bakker Manuel, Jan Hendrik du Preez, Michele A. Miller, Julia Felippe, Stephen A Parry; R.D. Gleed, Journal of Wildlife Diseases, vol. 57, no. 2, 2021, 357–367.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1088: “Cursing Babinski” Feb 13, 2022

Show notes

In Podcast Episode #1088, Marc Abrahams shows an unfamiliar research study to psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason. Dramatic readings and reactions ensue.

Remember, our Patreon donors, on most levels, get access to each podcast episode before it is made public.

Jean Berko Gleason encounters:

“The Babinski Sign,” P.H.W. Rayner, British Medical Journal, vol. 314, February 1997, p. 374.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1087: “Modes of Cat-Human Communication” Jan 30, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1087, Marc Abrahams presents the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize for Biology winners Susanne Schötz, Robert Eklund, and Joost van de Weijer. They received the prize for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication.

REFERENCE: “A Comparative Acoustic Analysis of Purring in Four Cats,” Susanne Schötz and Robert Eklund, Proceedings of Fonetik 2011, Speech, Music and Hearing, KTH, Stockholm, TMH-QPSR, 51.
REFERENCE: “A Phonetic Pilot Study of Vocalisations in Three Cats,” Susanne Schötz, Proceedings of Fonetik 2012, Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
REFERENCE: “A Phonetic Pilot Study of Chirp, Chatter, Tweet and Tweedle in Three Domestic Cats,” Susanne Schötz, Proceedings of Fonetik 2013, Linköping University, Sweden, 2013, pp. 65-68.
REFERENCE: “A Study of Human Perception of Intonation in Domestic Cat Meows,” Susanne Schötz and Joost van de Weijer, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Speech Prosody, Dubin, Ireland, May 20-23, 2014.
REFERENCE: “Melody in Human–Cat Communication (Meowsic): Origins, Past, Present and Future,” Susanne Schötz, Robert Eklund, and Joost van de Weijer, 2016.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

Episode #1086: “Beards and Face-Punching” Jan 16, 2022

Show notes

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.

In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We released these lectures one at a time.

In Podcast Episode #1086, Marc Abrahams presents the 2020 Ig Nobel Peace Prize winners Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier. They received the prize for testing the hypothesis that humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.

The video for this lecture—graphs, charts and all—can be found online at www.IMPROBABLE.com.

REFERENCE: “Impact Protection Potential of Mammalian Hair: Testing the Pugilism Hypothesis for the Evolution of Human Facial Hair,” Ethan A. Beseris, Steven E. laNeway, David R. Carrier, Integrative Organismal Biology, vol. 2, no. 1, 2020, obaa005.

Seth Gliksman, Production Assistant

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