WHAT: The Ig Nobel Prize honours individuals whose achievements in science cannot or should not be reproduced. 10 prizes are given to people who have done remarkably bizarre things in science over the previous year. WHY: The 'Igs' are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative and shine a spotlight onto the weird corners of laboratories around the world. PAST WINNERS: Peter Fong's experiment in which he fed Prozac to clams on the basis that if they chilled out more they'd taste better. Harold Hillman's report on 'The Possible Pain Experienced during Execution by Different Methods'...

Takes a humorous look at science and research, discussing studies involving the mickymouse gene, the effects of peanut butter on the rotation of the earth, fifty ways to love your liver, and failure of electric shock treatment for rattlesnake envenomation.

The Nobel Prize recognizes the world’s most talented and innovative minds. Unfortunately, not all of the hopeful thinkers and academics around the globe can become Nobel laureates, but some are lucky enough to win the Ig Nobel Prize instead.Drawn from the world’s wackiest actual research, The Ig Nobel Prizesdemonstrates the extreme measures that people will take in the quest for knowledge, and pays tribute to those individuals whose achievements cannot—or should not—be reproduced. Recent Ig Nobel honorees include: • The professor who proved that toast falls buttered side down more often than not • The Southern Baptist Church of Alabama which devised a formula to determine how many Alabamans will go to hell • The founder of the amusement park known as “Stalin World” Featuring these endeavors and many more, The Ig Nobel Prizesis an entertaining exhibition of brains and determination.

The Journal of Irreproducible Results is the magazine that has stood for years as the definitive parody of scholarly and scientific journals everywhere. This anthology collects its greatest moments. Selection of the Library of Science Book and the Book-of-the-Month Science Book clubs. 81,000 copies in print.

Every year the Nobel Prize is awarded to the leaders in their respective fields. But what recognition is there for the scientific mind who attempted to feed Prozac to clams for sexual purposes? Where are the gongs for the genius who trained pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso & those of Monet? How about `The Collapse of Toilets in Glasgow¿ & the optimal way to dunk a biscuit? The ¿IgNobel Prizes¿ have changed all that, bestowing their award on the individuals whose achievements `cannot or should not be reproduced¿. And here, from humor magazine the ¿Annals of Improbable Research,¿ comes the story behind these awards -- the research, the award winners, & their sometimes ungracious responses. Illustrations.

Murphy's Law is one of the most well-recognized statements of philosophy known to man. Tipped off by his next door neighbor that Murphy may have worked at Edwards Air Force Base, and that the Law may have come into being after a rocket sled experiment went awry, author Nick T. Spark beings a Quixotic quest to learn the truth. His attempts to pin down the mysterious origins of The Law and to answer the eternal question, "Who was Murphy and what is the true meaning of Murphy's Law?" are both amusing and relevatory. Read it, and find out why everything you ever thought you knew about Murphy's Law -- is wrong.