2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners

This is amusing, but what won the LaughLearnLinks Award was the use of “pneumotachometers (instruments to measure volume flow of respired gases)… to determine the velocity, volume, and time scale of blowing through each side of the nose.”

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes; they honor “achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.” The unapologetically campy awards ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and “24/7 lectures,” whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds and the second in just seven words.

This year’s awards go to…

Biomechanics: Matilda Brindle, Catherine Talbot, and Stuart West for devising a more precise definition of kissing—“non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer”—in ants, birds, polar bears, and humans.
Economics: Paul Piff, Daniel Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner, for amassing evidence that upper-class people are more likely to snatch from a children’s supply of candy, and engage in other kinds of unethical behavior.
Chemistry: Sanchari Banerjee, Nathan Coussens, François-Xavier Gallat, Nitish Sathyanarayanan, Jandhyam Srikanth, Koichiro Yagi, James Gray, Stephen Tobe, Barbara Stay, Leonard Chavas, and Subramanian Ramaswamy for discovering that milk proteins from viviparous cockroaches pack three times as much energy as milk proteins from cows.
Medicine: The late Tokuji Unno, for the study called “How to Blow the Nose—An Aerodynamic Study of the Nose Blowing.”
Biology: João Miguel Alves-Nunes, Adriano Fellone, Selma Maria Almeida-Santos, Carlos Roberto de Medeiros, Ivan Sazima, and Otavio Augusto Vuolo Marques, for gently stepping on various parts of various venomous snakes—repeatedly, at various temperatures at various times of day—to try to learn what does and does not induce a venomous snake to bite a human.
Physics: Randy Hurd, Zhao Pan, Tadd Truscott, Kaveeshan Thurairajah, for theoretical and experimental attempts to design a splash-free urinal. ((Note: I checked the original paper… it has a surprising amount of math.))
Technology: Justin Puma, Zhen Yang, Evan Johnston, Zixin Zhang, Xiaoyi Lan, Lingzhi Zhang, Hongyu Hou, Zixin He, Ali Afify, Megan Creighton, Jianyu Li, and Changhong Cao, for pioneering the use of mosquito proboscises as high-resolution 3D printing nozzles, a process called “Necroprinting.”
Olfaction: Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel, and Agnieszka Sorokowska, for collecting evidence that babies smell wonderful to their parents but teenagers do not.
Peace: Jaimie Arona Krems, Rebecka Hahnel-Peeters, Laureon Merrie, Keelah Williams, and Daniel Sznycer, for documenting that we value friends who are vicious to people we dislike.
Soil science: Franz Bender, Marcel van der Heijden, Atlant Bieri, and Pia Viviani, for burying 1,000 identical pairs of underpants in more than 25 countries and then digging them up after two months.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/meet-the-2026-ig-nobel-prize-winners. 3,100 words.

Good news from Fix the News:

The pancreatic cancer pill that got a standing ovation now has full FDA approval. In Edition 341 we told you about daraxonrasib, a pill that doubles median survival for deadly pancreatic cancer, with some patients living for years. Now the FDA has approved it, compressing a process that normally takes months into weeks because the benefit was so large, and the need so urgent. “We can now envisage a future with no chemotherapy needed.” NYT

And an image from my collection. Well, it makes at least as much sense as anti-vaxxers:

Mel Brooks at 100

People sometimes call Gogol the father of Russian realism, yet in Dead Souls, especially, he explores the human condition with the unmistakable verve of a comedian—seizing on preposterousnesses hiding in plain sight, piling absurdities atop one another until the tension cannot hold, generally dazzling (and, yes, sometimes confounding) the reader with his originality and playfulness…

Tolkin happens to be the mentor who said of Brooks: “Half of Mel’s creativity comes out of fear and anger. He doesn’t perform, he screams.” This was an era in which a still-unknown Brooks would show up late to the writer’s room—a habit that drove his colleagues nuts—and then get the biggest laughs out of them anyway. He was outrageously funny, and had unbelievable range. One minute he’d be doing an impression of a rabbi, and the next he was writhing around on the floor pretending to be a harpooned whale (a Melville reference, naturally). The playwright Neil Simon, also a writer on the show, called Brooks “the most uniquely funny man I’ve ever met.”…

Mel Brooks gave us, among other comedic gifts, The Producers; Blazing Saddles; Young Frankenstein; Silent Movie; High Anxiety; Spaceballs; History of the World, Part I; and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. You could have been born at any point in time, but here you are, alive when ice cream, antibiotics, and indoor plumbing have all been invented, and Mel Brooks is turning 100. If that isn’t extraordinarily good luck, I don’t know what is.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/06/long-live-mel-brooks/687730. 3,450 words.

Good news from Fix the News:

Brazil has made spectacular progress on one of its most stubborn public health problems.

In 1996, almost 656,000 adolescent girls gave birth; by 2025, that had fallen to around 276,000, a 58% drop driven by three decades of free contraception. The latest shift came in 2025, when a three-year contraceptive implant called Implanon became universally free nationwide for women aged 14 to 49.

This has made a big difference. Without government assistance the implant costs around $200, almost two-thirds of the monthly minimum wage — and that’s before the doctor’s fee. Some cities, including Campinas in São Paulo, Pinhais in Paraná and Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará, have gone even further, offering implants to girls as young as 11. Despite the howls of protests from traditionalists it’s worked; between 2010 and 2024, births among girls under 14 in Fortaleza fell by more than half.

And an image from my collection:

Butts Arrested in Boob Murder Case

There has been a development in a year-old murder case in Potter Township, Pa. The victim: Samuel S. Boob, 29. The alleged getaway driver has been arrested, Kermit Butts, 26.

I first found this on the ThisIsTrue weekly email, and here’s a link to the specific article: https://thisistrue.com/family-feud/. Details about the case were difficult to find in any well-known news site, but maybe try this: https://thecinemaholic.com/samuel-boob-murder-where-are-mirinda-boob-and-ronald-heichel-now/ (730 words).

Good news from Fix the News:

One-shot gene therapy is helping the deaf hear. The OTOF gene makes otoferlin, a protein the inner ear needs to send sound to the brain. Those born without this gene are deaf… but maybe only temporarily. Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute injected ten OTOF-deaf people with a working copy of the otoferlin-making gene, delivered straight into the cochlea via synthetic virus.

The hearing of all ten improved drastically: on average, the quietest sound they could hear dropped from 106 decibels to 52, roughly the difference between a chainsaw and normal conversation. Children responded fastest; one seven-year-old was chatting with her mother four months after therapy. The treatment has shown no adverse side effects, so the Karolinska team is now looking to try the same setup on different deafness genes. ScienceDaily

And an image from my collection:

Superstition

xkcd.com posts a new item three times a week. I always read them. (Remember to hold your mouse over the item for an extra comment.) Some people try to say “Rabbit rabbit” or “Rabbit rabbit day” as the very first thing they say on the first of each month (https://xkcd.com/3191/):

(And the mouseover comment is: “It’s important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That’s what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I’d said rabbit rabbit that year!”)

Good news from Fix the News: Big progress in 25 years!

The UN Special Programme on Human Reproduction’s 2025 annual report reveals women today are 40% less likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than in 2000. That’s astonishing progress, and there are powerful reasons to believe it will continue: in 2025 the WHO issued new guidance on standardising postpartum haemorrhage treatment, the single leading cause of maternal mortality globally, responsible for around a quarter of all deaths.

☝️ possibly the most beautifully designed UN report you will ever see.

And an image from my collection:

Word Crimes

A song by Weird Al Yankovic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc. 3 minutes 45 seconds; a parody of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. Lyrics and detailed explanation: https://genius.com/Weird-al-yankovic-word-crimes-lyrics.

One thing I ask of you (Okay)
Time to learn your homophones is past due (Woo)
Learn to diagram a sentence, too
Always say “to whom”, don’t ever say “to who” (Woo)
And listen up when I tell you this
I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis (Woo)

Also see https://laughlearnlinks.home.blog/2025/05/15/white-and-nerdy/.

And good news from Fix the News:

Adult smoking in the United States has dropped below 10% for the first time. New analysis of national survey data found that cigarette use fell from 10.8% of adults in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024 (about 25 million people) down from 42% in 1964. The shift has helped drive a long fall in cancer mortality, with the American Cancer Society estimating reduced smoking prevented nearly four million lung cancer deaths between 1970 and 2022. Gizmodo

Plus an image from my collection, in honor of (recently) St. Patrick’s Day:

Fifty shirts of “Hey—”

Amusing, weird, clever… and several are NSFW. Here ya go: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/50-absolutely-hilarious-t-shirts.

One example:

Good news from Fix the News:

Sweden cuts shootings by 63% after policing overhaul. Gun violence in Sweden has dropped sharply since peaking in 2022, with shooting incidents falling to 147 in 2025, down from the 390 recorded three years earlier. Authorities attribute the shift to expanded surveillance powers, tougher sentencing and new police tactics targeting criminal networks, which have also improved asset seizures and disruption of gang operations. Reuters

If it’s possible in Sweden (in just three years), maybe it’s possible here…

And an image from my collection. People’s profile pictures on dating sites often include other people; for privacy, many people will “scratch out” the faces of the others:

NotAlwaysRight best of 2025

The website NotAlwaysRight.com has listed its 25 highest-rated inspirational stories of 2025: small interactions with people that turned out really nice. Some of the titles:

“My Knight In Shining Armor Is Me” – A needed reminder that there is power in you.

There’s Always Room For Kindness – We hope that stories like this, as heartwarming as the ending is, will be consigned to history.

Best… Valentine’s Day… Ever! – Valentine’s… but make it good!

Produce-ing A Fine Young Worker – Some of the many ways that vegetables can be good for you!

He Grew Up Too Fast, But He Did It So Well! – When the ex wheely needs a reality check!

Not All Heroes Wear Capes. Some Sell Books About Them, Though! – This story can stave off superhero fatigue just a little longer…

Full list: https://notalwaysright.com/the-not-always-right-2025-retrospective-the-top-feel-good-stories/403564/.

Good news from Fix the News:

Bogotá’s care blocks are buying women their time back. Colombia’s capital is home to eight million people, and 1.2 million women who do more than ten hours a day of unpaid care. Since 2020 though, the city has opened 25 neighbourhood hubs where caregivers can drop off children or elderly relatives, do the laundry, then use free legal aid, training or mental-health support – or just sit down and read a book. The model is now spreading to Sierra Leone, Mexico and (soon) the United States. Vox

And an image from my collection:

Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc.

Aqua is a Danish eurodance band, best known for their 1997 single “Barbie Girl” (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A). Some of the lyrics were suggestive, eg:

Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please
I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees
Come jump in, bimbo friend, let us do it again.

Mattel (Barbie’s owner) responded by suing in 1997 for trademark and copyright violations; Aqua and MCA denied the charges, and countersued for defamation after Mattel compared MCA to bank robbers.

Ultimately all the cases were dismissed in 2002; the song was ruled to be a legal parody. (The judgment does thoroughly cover the applicable law and precedents.) Apparently, though, the judge had some opinions about the case:

OPINION

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge:

If this were a sci-fi melodrama, it might be called Speech-Zilla meets Trademark Kong.
…
With fame often comes unwanted attention. Aqua is a Danish band that has, as yet, only dreamed of attaining Barbie-like status. In 1997, Aqua produced the song Barbie Girl on the album Aquarium.

And in particular (bolding is mine):

An MCA spokeswoman noted that each album included a disclaimer saying that Barbie Girl was a “social commentary [that was] not created or approved by the makers of the doll,” a Mattel representative responded by saying, “That’s unacceptable…. It’s akin to a bank robber handing a note of apology to a teller during a heist. [It n]either diminishes the severity of the crime, nor does it make it legal.” He later characterized the song as a “theft” of “another company’s property.”

MCA filed a counterclaim for defamation based on the Mattel representative’s use of the words “bank robber,” “heist,” “crime” and “theft.” But all of these are variants of the invective most often hurled at accused infringers, namely “piracy.” No one hearing this accusation understands intellectual property owners to be saying that infringers are nautical cutthroats with eyepatches and peg legs who board galleons to plunder cargo. In context, all these terms are nonactionable “rhetorical hyperbole,” Gilbrook v. City of Westminster, 177 F.3d 839, 863 (9th Cir.1999). The parties are advised to chill.

Full judgment: 6,300 words: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4174039731032587001.

No news from Fix the News this week. But you still get an image from my favorites — an optical illusion. Look at it carefully…

Dave Barry Year in Review 2025

Excerpts (it’s worth reading the entire 4,500 words):

The biggest story of 2025, to judge from the number of people who sent it to me, was this raccoon:

In case you somehow missed this story: In late November, this raccoon got into a state liquor store in Ashland, Va., by falling though the ceiling. Once inside, the raccoon ransacked the store, leaving a trail of broken bottles…

FEBRUARY

…President Trump threatens to slap tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, all of which were originally built by Americans. Tariffs are taxes, so this would mean that the American consumer would pay more for these goods. To understand why this is a shrewd business tactic, consider an analogy: You’re in a dispute with your neighbor, Bob. So you go to Bob’s house and ring his doorbell. When he opens the door, you turn around and punch the American consumer in the face. Take that, Bob!

MARCH

On a happier note, two astronauts finally return to Earth after being stranded aboard the International Space Station for nine months. They say they’re “happy to be home,” but add “that’s the last time we’re booking on Spirit.”

MAY

On Memorial Day, a somber occasion when America honors its war dead, Trump posts a social-media message strongly reminiscent of the Gettysburg Address in its dignity and thoughtful eloquence. It begins (really): “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS…”

…and so on for 109 thoughtful capitalized words, not one of which mentions our nation’s war dead, but you only have so much space on social media.

Full article (should be readable by everyone, send me a note if you can’t): https://davebarry.substack.com/p/the-year-in-review?utm_source=LaughLearnLinks.home.blog.

Good news from Fix the News:

In 2025 the world produced record harvests of wheat, rice and soybeans for the third consecutive year, pushing grain prices down 8 percent and rice prices to their lowest in 18 years…

In September, The Lancet released a report with one of the most extraordinary statistics I’ve ever seen: since 2010, humanity’s total burden of illness and early death has dropped by 12.6 percent, driven by declining deaths from the world’s deadliest infectious diseases: tuberculosis, lower respiratory infections, diarrhoea, HIV/AIDS, all down by between 25 and 49 percent. This progress has been so dramatic that for the first time in our species’ history, lifestyle diseases (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) have displaced infectious illness as the dominant global threat. And here, mortality is falling too.

In 2025 the United States will almost certainly record its lowest murder rate in history. Not since the pandemic, not since the 1990s crime wave, but lower than any year since the FBI began tracking in 1960. Violent crime is at its lowest level since 1968. Property crime is at the lowest rate ever measured.

In August, the WHO and UNICEF released data showing that over the last decade 961 million people gained access to safe drinking water, 1.2 billion gained safe sanitation, and 1.5 billion gained basic hygiene services. Over the same period the number of people without electricity fell by 292 million, even as the global population grew by 760 million. According to the International Energy Agency, this represents the fastest expansion of electricity access in history.

Divide these numbers by ten to get the annual improvements. (For “access to safe drinking water,” that works out to 263,000 people per day.) Read the entire thing to feel better!

And an image from my collection:

Two funnies

Or, depending on your mood, two depress-ies:

Thomas Benjamin, I’ve No More F*cks To Give: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqbk9cDX0l0 (3 min 1 sec, NSFW). “Should be the new national anthem!”

And thecouchlesstherapist gives us this wisdom: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKPPGKZN3VR/ (about seven seconds; click the sound icon at the lower right):

Change is hard because sometimes you need your discomfort to get huge before you will feel it’s bad enough to make a change or leave a situation. Maybe your tolerance for bullshit is a little too high.

The ole’ devil you know, so to speak.

But change is possible! Don’t forget to ask yourself, is this helping me?

Good news from Fix the News (previous week’s, they’re taking the rest of December off):

Wildlife rangers in southern Africa have plenty of experience in chasing off poachers — but often lack the tools to actually catch the culprits. Now parks in South Africa and Zimbabwe have started employing police dogs from Wales, with great success. Nonprofit Dogs4Wildlife, which provides the dogs, gives priority to smaller reserves, which have far fewer anti-poaching resources than Africa’s most renowned parks. “Some of the smaller wildlife reserves have almost eradicated poaching completely, just because of the deterrent value.” CNN

And an image from my collection: