Annals of Improbable Research
Magazine
The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) is a bimonthly magazine devoted to scientific humor, in the form of a satirical take on the standard academic journal. AIR, published six times a year since 1995, usually showcases at least one piece of scientific research being done on a strange or unexpected topic, but most of their articles concern real or fictional absurd experiments, such as a comparison of apples and oranges using infrared spectroscopy. Other features include such things as ratings of the cafeterias at scientific institutes, fake classifieds and advertisements for a medical plan called HMO-NO, and a very odd letters page. The magazine is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Source
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| Scope | National |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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| Frequency | Bimonthly |
Recent Articles
Search ArticlesWhy Are or Aren’t There Maps in Novels?
If you meet a person who reads novels, and who has mentioned to you that some of those novels include a map, consider mentioning to to that person that they can read a study about the question of why there are or are not maps in some novels. The study is: “Castles, Battlefields, and Continents: A Dataset of Maps from Literature,” Axel Bax, David Mimno, and Matthew Wilkens, Anthology of Computers and the Humanities, vol. 3, 2025, pp. 297-311.
The nature of the Igs, noted in Nature
Nature magazine published a nice editorial about the Ig Nobel Prizes, on September 8, 2026. You might enjoy reading it. You might also enjoy dipping into some of the other press accounts of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and the new winners.
Newman’s Happy Index of ‘Morbid’ Surprising Bits
Saul Newman has written a book about his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research. The book is called Morbid — Debunking Modern Longevity Science. It’s published by MIT Press. (The photo shows Newman with MIT Press’s director, Amy Brand, and the book.) Newman is a Senior Research Fellow at University College London and the University of Oxford.
Slime Molds and a double Ig Nobel Prize winner and a big, great science adventure
“ ‘This is dangerous’: slime moulds and the bitter debate over the nature of intelligence — Scientists are battling over whether supposedly simple organisms should be considered ‘intelligent’. The outcome could reshape our understanding of the natural world – and our own place within it”. So says the headline of a report by Samanth Subramanian, in The Guardian, on September 8, 2026.
A Book of Odd Showers
Odd Showers, a book published in 1870 in London, is explicitly [the book itself says] “intended chiefly for young persons.” Non-young persons are not explicitly prohibited from reading the book.
First He Won an Ig Nobel Prize, Then He Won a Trumpler Award
Jesse Han is becoming good at winning unusual awards. In 2017 he traveled to Harvard University, to receive the 2017 Ig Nobel Fluid Dynamics Prize, for studying the dynamics of liquid-sloshing, to learn what happens when a person walks backwards while carrying a cup of coffee. [His research on that was published in study called “A Study on the Coffee Spilling Phenomena in the Low Impulse Regime,” in the journal Achievements in the Life Sciences [vol. 10, no. 1, 2016, pp. 87-101].
IG NOBEL FACE-to-FACE — TODAY, Friday, September 4, 2026, 2:00 pm.
The Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event in Zurich happens today. You are invited. The new Ig Nobel Prize winners will ask each other questions about their work. WHERE: Hörsaal Universität Zürich, Rämistrasse 71, Zürich. The room is known as “the Gummy Bear Room”. WHEN: Friday, September 4, 2026, 2:00 pm. The Face-to-Face event is free. Seating is limited, so we advise arriving a bit early. This event will NOT be webcast. We will, later in the year, produce an edited video-recording of it.
The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners are announced
The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners were introduced at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 3, 2026
The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
TODAY, Thursday, Sept 3, at 7 pm (CEST): The 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Ten new prizes will be awarded for things that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The webcast will be available here and on our Youtube channel: The 2026 ceremony will be also webcast in a separate stream in Japanese (thanks to NIKONIKO/Dwango).
TOMORROW (Sept 3, 2026): The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony
TOMORROW, Thursday, September 3, 2026: The 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. and webcast and watch parties.