SEX IN AN MRI SCANNER

Marc Abrahams of the Annals of Improbable Research states that his purpose is "to spur people's curiosity, and to raise the question: How do you decide what's important and what's not, and what's real and what's not — in science and everywhere else?" To this end he has worked with the film maker Bahram Sadeghi who has made a six-episode minimovie documentary about the Ig Nobel prize winners.

Episode four is the story of the 2000 Ig Nobel prize for Medicine, "Sex in an MRI Scanner" won appropriately by the Netherlands team.. If the other end of life interests you, then you may be may intrigued to know that death can be affected by tax regimes.

In addition to the core (paid-for) magazine, Abrahams and the editorial board provide an extensive website with an archive, short YouTube articles, and freebie newsletter. The magazine also administers the Ig Nobel prizes, which, unlike some of the dodgier offerings from the Nobel committee, are not mere PR puffs.

The 2009 Ig Nobel Peace prize was won by Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining — by experiment — whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle. These things matter in court when someone is insisting their client could not possibly be responsible for a particular injury. It is also handy to know that you are marginally better off being hit with a full bottle, so always remember to buy a fighting partner a drink.

It takes an hour to watch, but this is Marc Abrahams explaining how the Ig Nobel prizes encourage public engagement with science:

Illustrated by prizewinners from the past and those who captured the scientific imagination in 2003 with particular reference to the Peace prize winner:

" Lal Bihari, of Uttar Pradesh, India, for a triple accomplishment: First, for leading an active life even though he has been declared legally dead; Second, for waging a lively posthumous campaign against bureaucratic inertia and greedy relatives; and Third, for creating the Association of Dead People. Lal Bihari overcame the handicap of being dead, and managed to obtain a passport from the Indian government so that he could travel to Harvard to accept his Prize. However, the U.S. government refused to allow him into the country. His friend Madhu Kapoor therefore came to the Ig Nobel Ceremony and accepted the Prize on behalf of Lal Bihari. Several weeks later, the Prize was presented to Lal Bihari himself in a special ceremony in India. [NOTE: Filmmaker Satish Kaushik will be making a film about the life (and death and life) of Lal Bihari."

Note to supply teachers who may need to occupy a class for an hour: except for the very short item on the necrophiliac duck, the programme is suitable for 14 year olds and does what it says on the tin - makes them laugh, then makes them think about all the areas of science they could work in. There's nothing wrong with the duck item, but it might might be misunderstood if taken out of context.


Author: Tynan Wierd

SEX IN AN MRI SCANNER