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This is Improbable: Cheese String Theory, Magnetic Chickens and Other WTF Research by Marc Abrahams
The founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes rounds up strange studies, such as one on the best way to slice a ham sandwich. Oneworld Publications, 2012, 320 p., $15.95
- Life
Scent Into Action
Rodent responses to a whiff of predator may offer clues to instinct in the brain.
- Humans
Social Media Sway
Worries over political misinformation on Twitter attract scientists’ attention.
- Humans
Human-Neandertal mating gets a new date
Late Stone Age interbreeding between Neandertals and people may have left a mark on Europeans’ DNA.
- Space
Superfast star spotted orbiting Milky Way’s black hole
Upcoming gravitational close encounter will test relativity theories in the extreme.
- Life
Duck-billed dino could slice and dice
Ancient animal’s teeth were made of six different tissue types.
- Life
Mouse stem cells yield viable eggs
Japanese scientists’ technical feat might provide new insights about protecting and extending human fertility.
- Life
Black mamba bite packs potent painkiller
Scientists find that a component of snake venom blocks pain-sensing nerve signals.
- Animals
Right eye required for finding Mrs. Right
Finches flirt unwisely if they can only use their left eyes.
- Chemistry
Chemical bond shields extreme microbes from poison
Molecular structure explains how ‘arsenic life’ bacteria instead survive by fishing out phosphate from their surroundings.
- Astronomy
Cohabiting black holes challenge theory
The observation of two stellar-mass objects in one globular cluster violates existing astrophysical dogma.
- Humans
Car-crazy kid wins middle school science competition
First place at Broadcom MASTERS goes to 14-year-old who studied automotive aerodynamics.
