Koko the Gorilla passes away – so can animals use language? Plus a galaxy that might have no dark matter, and the humans pretending to be AI bots.
The Yanny vs Laurel audio illusion, plumes of water from Europa, the origin of the amphibian-killing fungus, using ice cores to study Ancient Rome’s economy, and clever magpies learn the calls of other birds.
SoT 201: The 2015 Ig Nobel Prizes
- October 7, 2015
- Tagged as: appendicitis, bee stings, bees, bribery, business, business leaders, cancer, ceo, chickens, dinosaurs, disasters, economics, eggs, honeybees, huh, Ig Nobel, Ig Nobels, insect stings, insects, kissing, language, law of urination, linguistics, mathematics, natural disasters, pee, protein folding, reproduction, risk-taking, sex, speed bumps, trauma, urination, urine
The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look at this year’s winners: from unboiled eggs to painful bee stings!
Warm vaccines, the oldest crystal, counting whales, dogs in fMRI and sex-crazed marsupials!
Brain-to-brain communication, Greenland’s hidden Grand Canyon, in utero bacteria, in utero learning, and fish leadership.
SoT 116: The Baby Disease
- September 5, 2013
- Tagged as: bacteria, bog bodies, earthquakes, fish, fracking, genome, gibbons, language, polio
Fracking-related earthquakes, tiny genomes, gibbon-songs and bog bodies. Plus chronic excreters and fish that eat nuts.
What does a peahen look for in a peacock? Dolphins may use names, but it’s sketchy. Scientists have implanted scary false memories into mice. And the thinnest, imperceptible technology.
Naked mole rats, living salads, language learning, ancient castle poo, and komodo dragon bites. Plus the salty taste of billion-year old water.
Shark babies kill each other before their even born, fishy gestures, misused science words, genetically modified salmon, and the traces of supernovae in bacteria.
SoT 6: Frolicking Death Trap
- April 27, 2011
- Tagged as: ancestors, astronomy, bacteria, binary stars, language, pluto, whales
Language May Have Helped Early Humans Spread Out of Africa Pluto.