Happy Thought for 15 September 2023

Have a Happy Thought: 

  

This is the 6th (!!) year in a row I get to bring you the highlights of science that makes you laugh, and then makes you think.

 

We’ve previously talked through scientific studies proving that knives made from frozen (human) faeces do not work, the fact that human saliva is actually a good cleaning agent, and that staring at fluffy ducklings is a great way to study physics.

 

This year, the ig-Nobel prizes seemed to try to normalise some behaviours that maybe in the past we all thought were just a bit too odd.

 

Like when geologists lick rocks, they’re doing it for good reason, not just because they’re still that kid eating dirt on the playground.

 

Or that some people are better than others at speaking backwards, but even those that are really good at speaking backwards do it differently from each other (at a brain-region level… or level noiger-niarb)

 

We seem to have coined a new term for future zombie movies: Necrobotics, or using biotic materials (from deceased spiders, specifically) as robotic components. Like we don’t need more nightmare fuel these days…

 

But most importantly, in case you’re ever wanting to prank random strangers on the street, you can read this research to figure out how many friends you need with you, staring up at a random spot, before everyone else on the street stops and stares with you.

 

You can read more about these and more delights from the 2023 Ig Nobel Prizes!