The Ig Nobel Prizes at the IET

Last, but not least, there are the Ig Nobel awards. These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that 'first make people laugh, and then make them think'" - Nature

Last night I took part in the Ig Nobel Prizes events at London's Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). As always, it was a sterling event hosted by the Ig Nobel's founder, Marc Abrahams. Here he is organising the timekeepers for the event (each speaker had only five minutes and was prompted to be punctual by a bell ringing once a minute).

The event kicked off with Dr Siobhan Abeyesinghe talking about her research into poultry cognition or 'Do hens have friends?'

We then heard from my QI and Museum of Curiosity colleague, Dan Schreiber. Dan talked about research for TV and radio shows and some of the strange pathways it has taken us down, including the search for Shackleton's newspaper advert and the curious world of academic warfare.

Dr Charlotte Burn from the Royal Veterinary College then told us all about her research into canine tail chasing; particularly the problem of us humans finding it endearing when, for many dogs, it may actually be an indicator of a medical of psychological problem. The bottom line is - if your dog does it a lot, talk to a vet.

Final speaker of the night was the never less than entertaining Professor Chris McManus who took us into the wonderful world of scrotal asymmetry. Thankfully without a practical demonstration.

The evening ended, as all Ig Nobels do, with a spirited group reading (led by me) of some wretched poetry. Tonight, as we were surrounded by engineers, it was perfectly fitting for us all to recite William Topaz McGonagall's epic Tay Bridge Disaster, probably the only poem ever to rhyme 'buttresses' with 'confesses'.

A fantastic evening - can't wait for the next one. And the good news for you? You can watch the entire hour (and a bit) long show here. Free!

And if you want to hear some REALLY bad poetry, you can watch this 12 minute long podcast that I did last year:

The World's Most Improbable Event

Yesterday afternoon I took part in The World's Most Improbable Event at the Conway Hall in London. The event was part of the book launch and tour for Marc Abrahams' new book This is Improbable. Here's Marc explaining it:



But it was also a great excuse to meet up with some wonderful people and to read some extraordinary 'science that makes you laugh, then think'. Contained among the research papers we all read from were such subjects as skipping in undergraduates, the palatability of tadpoles, the effect on sleepers of sonic booms, mosquito attraction to Limburger cheese (and cheesy feet) and emergency bras. These were all real papers that had won an Ig Nobel Prize. Here's Stephen Fry and an Ig Nobel laureate explaining the 'Igs' on Series 9 of QI:



Marc began by explaining the Ig Nobels and by selecting two members of the audience to be timekeeper and gong person; they would ensure that none of us speakers went over two minutes ...

Then on came the speakers, one by one ...

 

Neuroscientist, author and Guardian columnist Mo Costandi ...

 

 

Alom Shaha, physics teacher and author of the Young Atheist's Handbook ...

 

 

Head of media relations at the Natural History Museum, Chloe Kembery ...

 

 

Neil Denny of the Little Atoms podcast ...

 

 

Comedian and writer/presenter of Radio 4's It is Rocket Science! Helen Keen ...

 

 

James Harkin, head of research at QI ...

 

 

Dr Alice Bell, Guardian columnist and science communicator ...

 

 

Some fat old ex-cop ...

 

 

Marine Biologist and Naked Scientist Dr Helen Scales ...

 

 

Astronomer and writer Dr Stu Clark ...

 

 

The elder statesman of science journalists Tim Radford ...

 

 

Writer, speaker and podcaster Helen Zaltzman ... 

 

 

Co-creator of The Museum of Curiosity and comedian Dan Schreiber ...

 

 

Comedian and contributor to the Atheists' Guide to Christmas, Nick Doody ...

 

Comedy science songstress Helen Arney ...

 

... and biologist, writer and broadcaster Dr Aarathi Prasad.

 

Marc then wrapped up the day with the now traditional spirited audience reading of some horrible poetry by William McGonagal.

 

 

A very funny show that I was proud to be a part of. And now it's on the move with shows in Edinburgh (2nd October, The Jam House), Cambridge (3rd October, Mill Lane Lecture Rooms), Bristol (October 4th, @Bristol) and Oxford (October 5th, Mathematical Institute, 24-29 St Giles St). There will be different readers, of course, but it will be just as entertaining as the London event.

 

And buy Marc's book!

 

An Improbable Plug

If you're in or around London on the 30th September, do consider popping along to the Conway Hall in Red Lion Square, Holborn, to watch the World's Most Improbable Event.

To celebrate the launch of my good chum Marc Abrahams' new book This is Improbable, a great big bunch of scientists, comedians, writers and TV/Radio presenters (including me) are going to turn up and regale you with tales of the weirdest fringe science; what Marc would call 'Science that makes you laugh, then think'. You'll learn all sorts of fascinating stuff about the velocity of ejected penguin poop, the efficacy of cola contraceptives, digital rectal massage as a cure for hiccups, and 'Farting as a defence against unspeakable dread'. No, really.

You can see the full list of speakers, and book tickets, on the Conway Hall website here.

It's only a tenner. And it's going to be a grand afternoon out.

Ig's amost here ...

Here's the first promo for my good friend Marc Abraham's new book This is Improbable, which comes out in September.



Marc will be over in the UK to promote the book in a month or so and intends to put on some events. I will almost certainly be reading or speaking at one of them.

Marc, as you may or may not know, is the founder and coordinator of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded for 'Science that makes you laugh, then makes you think'. You can read all about them here. And you can watch the Ig Nobel London event that took place earlier this year by clicking here and here. I was part of that and it was tremendous fun as always.