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(Posted June 27, 1997 ? Issue 11; archived July 11, 1997)
Let the Supreme Court judge Internet freedom of speech. Let educators study the net's potential to teach. We'll search the net for something far less serious: the silly side of science.
Heard of the Nobel Prize? How about the Ig Nobel Prize? Ig Nobel Prizes, explains its Web site, "are awarded to individuals whose achievement cannot or should not be reproduced." Last year's Igs were presented (reluctantly, the editors claim) by The Annals of Improbable Research (aka "the MAD magazine of science"). At the Sixth First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony held last October ("by the Gregorian calendar") at Harvard's Sanders Theater, awards were made in a range of categories.
Norwegian scientists Anders Baerheim and Hogne Sandvik shared the biology Ig Nobel for their "tasty and tasteful" report "Effect of Ale, Garlic, and Soured Cream on the Appetite of Leeches," which appeared in the British Medical Journal. In the field of medicine, the Igs went to tobacco company executives "for their unshakable discovery, as testified to the U.S. Congress, that nicotine is not addictive." Robert Matthews of Aston University, England, took the physics prize for his studies of Murphy's Law and his demonstration that toast tends to fall buttered-side down. His prize-winning paper, "Tumbling Toast, Murphy's Law and the Fundamental Constants," appeared in the European Journal of Physics. The peace prize went to French president Jacques Chirac "for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima with atomic bomb tests in the Pacific." Greenland and Norway shared the public health prize for a report by Ellen Kleist and Harald Moi entitled "Transmission of Gonorrhea Through an Inflatable Doll." And chemist George Goble of Purdue University took the prize in his field for "his blistering world record time for igniting a barbecue grill - three seconds, using charcoal and liquid oxygen."
The 41-year-old Journal of Irreproducible Results is online too. It is "the funniest thing to happen to science since Archimedes ran naked through the streets of Syracuse," according to Discover magazine, and should convince anyone, scientist or not, that science should not be taken too seriously. Consider the insightful "A Psychoanalysis of Beavis and Butthead" by E.R. Miller: "In analyzing any episode of Beavis and Butthead, Freud would probably identify several fixations in their psychosexual development. ('Huh, huh, he said sexual.')" Dale Lowdermilk's original essay "Water Can Kill You" first appeared in The Pragmatist. An excerpt: "Since January, most of the 80 suicides committed by people who jumped off bridges (such as the infamous Golden Gate) could have been prevented if these bridges had not been built over bodies of water."
The Transgenic Bagel uses recombinant gene splicing for laughs. (That is correct.) Use the site to engineer a desired trait by impregnating it into a bagel, the gene transfer vehicle. (The bagel, of course, resembles a plasmid, a circular DNA molecule that contains the genetic information.) This parody is "based on the concept that Noah's Ark comprised the first gene pool." You are invited to gamble for a character trait from a selection of thirteen Biblical personalities in the Book of Genesis. Beautifully detailed pictures demonstrate the ligation of the bagel fragment DNA to the bagel plasmid vector to produce a bagel plasmid chimera. Detailed instructions are provided regarding preparation and ingestion of the bagel. Your reward for all this virtual geneplay is to be whisked to Web sites that illustrate the traits you desire.
Another site effectively using humor to spread a bit of knowledge is the Skinema: Dermatology in the Cinema Web site. Produced by dermatologist and film buff Dr. Vail Reese, the site educates visitors on skin conditions featured in movies. Star skin conditions and lesions are divided into three categories: skin conditions used to convey evil, actors with skin conditions, and realistic depictions. "Should actors with skin conditions be 'outed' for the greater good?" the site asks. The answer is yes because stars with acne scars, hair loss, moles, skin damage, and more are all subjects of public discussion. Dr. Reese uses the material to slip in useful educational messages about skin conditions and what they mean. W.C. Fields' nose? Caused by acne rosacea, perhaps with a bit of excess alcohol thrown in. The site also notes that the use of scars, albinism, baldness, and other common characteristics to portray evil in films is unfair and tacky. But what would you expect from an industry that inspired a book entitled Hello, He Lied?
Jack Brown's Bugs in the News! is another site delivering information with a light touch. Brown, a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Kansas, began the site to interest his students in microbiology. The emphasis is on relating his material to the "real" world.
Besides the obviously satirical Web sites, humor zips around the globe via e-mail. One excellent example portrays itself as an actual letter from the Smithsonian Institution. It is purported to be the text of a letter to an amateur anthropologist who was pestering Smithsonian scientists with accounts of "discoveries" from his backyard. The mock-respectful, professional, considerate, and learned tone of the "letter" accounts for its humor. "It is a wonderful hoax," Smithsonian spokesperson Holly Steward said. "Many people here were amused by it. Unfortunately, it is not real."
Dean A. Haycock is a journalist who writes science articles for many magazines and newspapers. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brown University.
Endlinks
Web pages mentioned in this column:
Why do we laugh? Try reading Titter ye not . . . for an account of one serious researcher's take on humor. The article appears in The New Scientist.
Marc Abrahams, editor (and cofounder with Alexander Kohn) of the Annals of Improbable Research, has a fun page called Tour Through Library Databases Reveals a Funny Thing About Science (reprinted from The Scientist 10:7, p. 11). Abrahams shows there is no need to make up anything to illustrate humor in science.
Classics of Out(land)ish Anthropology - takes "a critical approach to bad anthropology on the Web." Their account of The Mysterious Origins of Man, "an actual 26 February (and again in June, alas) 1996 NBC prime time television special hosted by Charlton Heston" is entertaining if only because such a program was shown on a major network.
Science Made Stupid - has an amusing Further Reading page listing books that are not quite publishable, now or ever.
