This Is Improbable

The Guardian’s weekly “Improbable” columnist and founder of the internationally renowned, very funny, and invariably profound Ig Nobel Awards tours some of the most improbable research studies in the world. Marc Abrahams, the mind behind the internationally renowned Ig Nobel Prizes, is on a mission: to gather the bizarre, the questionable, the brilliant, the downright funny, the profound – everything improbable – from the annals of science research. What’s the best way to slice a ham sandwich, mathematically? What makes Bobs look especially Bob-like? Is the right or left ear better at discerning lies? Could mice be outfitted with parachutes to kill tree snakes?