Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a pun on the Nobel Prize, which it parodies, and on the word '' ignoble'' ("not noble"). Organized by the scientific humor magazine, '' Annals of Improbable Research'' (AIR), the Ig Nobel Prizes are presented by Nobel laureates in a ceremony at the Sanders Theater, Harvard University, and are followed by the winners' public lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. History The Ig Nobels were created in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the '' Annals of Improbable Research'', a former editor-in-chief of the ''Journal of Irreproducible Results'' who has been master of ceremonies at all awards ceremonies. Awards were presented at that time for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andre Geim
, birth_date = , birth_place = Sochi, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union , death_date = , death_place = , workplaces = , nationality = Dutch and British , fields = Condensed matter physics , doctoral_students = , doctoral_advisor = Victor Petrashov , thesis_title = Investigation of mechanisms of transport relaxation in metals by a helicon resonance method , thesis_year = 1987 , alma_mater = Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology , known_for = , awards = , signature = , signature_alt = , footnotes = , spouse = Irina Grigorieva , website = Sir Andre Konstantin Geim (russian: Андре́й Константи́нович Гейм; born 21 October 1958; IPA1 pronunciation: ɑːndreɪ gaɪm) is a Russian-born Dutch-British physicist working in England in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Gei ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frog Diamagnetic Levitation
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs is an ex ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Colorado State Board Of Education
The Colorado State Board of Education is a government body in the U.S. state of Colorado tasked with "general supervision of public schools." It is composed of members elected from districts corresponding to Colorado's congressional districts – following the 2000 census, there are seven districts and therefore seven members. Elected in partisan elections, they serve staggered six-year terms. Districts 5 and 6 hold elections in years divisible by six, followed two years later by Districts 2 and 4, and two years later by Districts 1, 3, and 7. During periods when Colorado is allocated an even number of congressional seats, an additional member is elected to the State Board of Education by statewide vote, thereby leading to an odd number of members and reducing the potential for tied votes. The last person so elected was Jared Polis, elected in 2000 when the state had six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Polis's term expired in January 2007 and the additional seat ceas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association
The Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association (HRSFA) is the undergraduate science fiction association at Harvard University. Founded in 1986, its purpose is to promote science fiction (and fantasy) and aid in activity of those interested in the genre. HRSFA also co-sponsors the annual Ig Nobel awards and organizes Vericon, an annual science fiction convention; and it intermittently publishes ''Fusion'', a speculative-fiction literary magazine. Other events held by HRSFA include the Wyld Hunt, Going of the Hour, and Masquerade Ball. It is sometimes cited as an example of a social organization whose parties and events do not focus upon drinking, and has gained attention for this role as Harvard tries to move towards greater social opportunities for its students.The Harvard Crimson, 7 April 2005"Not the Only Way"/ref> Its alumni network, HRSFANS, organizes reunion events and provides grants to enable undergraduate members to accept internships in the speculative fiction publi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of , the pandemic had caused more than cases and confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history. COVID-19 symptoms range from undetectable to deadly, but most commonly include fever, dry cough, and fatigue. Severe illness is more likely in elderly patients and those with certain underlying medical conditions. COVID-19 transmits when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. "Carbon nanostructures for electromagnetic shielding applications", Mohammed Arif Poothanari, Sabu Thomas, et al., ''Industrial Applications of Nanomaterials'', 2019. "Carbon nanostructures include various low-dimensional allotropes of carbon including carbon black (CB), carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), fullerene, and graphene." The name is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, reflecting the fact that the allotrope of carbon contains numerous double bonds. Each atom in a graphene sheet is connecte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Five-second Rule
The five-second rule, sometimes known as the three-second rule,(7 February 2006Getting the dirt of the 5-second rule ''Southeast Missourian'' is a food hygiene myth that states a defined time window where it is safe to pick up food (or sometimes cutlery) after it has been dropped on the floor or on the ground and thus exposed to contamination. There appears to be no scientific consensus on the general applicability of the rule, and its origin is unclear.Sefton, Dru (2003)Intern Puts Science Behind the Five-Second Rule ''Newhouse News service''(16 May 2007)Kissing Away the Germs (letter to editor) ''The New York Times'' It probably originated succeeding germ theory in the late 19th century. The first known mention of the rule in print is in the 1995 novel ''Wanted: Rowing Coach''. Research The five-second rule has received some scholarly attention. It has been studied as both a public health recommendation and a sociological effect. University of Illinois In 2003, Jillian C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Black Hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole. The boundary (topology), boundary of no escape is called the event horizon. Although it has a great effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, it has no locally detectable features according to general relativity. In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light. Moreover, quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with thermal radiation, the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. This temperature is of the order of billionths of a kelvin for stellar black holes, making it essentially impossible to observe directly. Obje ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are two living species of ostrich: the common ostrich, native to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. The common ostrich was also historically native to the Arabian Peninsula, and ostriches were present across Asia as far east as Mongolia during the Late Pleistocene and possibly into the Holocene. They lay the largest eggs of any living land animal. With the ability to run at 70 km/h (43.5 mph), they are the fastest birds on land. They are farmed worldwide, particularly for their feathers as they are used as decoration and feather dusters. Their skin is also used for leather products. They are the heaviest living birds. Taxonomic history The genus ''Struthio'' was first described b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scientific Articles
: ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.'' Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scientific literature is often referred to as the literature. Academic publishing is the process of contributing the results of one's research into the literature, which often requires a peer-review process. Original scientific research published for the first time in scientific journals is called the primary literature. Patents and technical reports, for minor research results and engineering and design work (including computer software), can also be considered primary literature. Secondary sources include review articles (which summarize the findings of published studies to highlight advances and new lines of research) and books (for large projects or broad arguments, including compilations of articles). Tertiary sources might include encycl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sokal Affair
The Sokal affair, also called the Sokal hoax, was a demonstrative scholarly publishing sting, scholarly hoax performed by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University and University College London. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to ''Social Text'', an academic journal of cultural studies. The submission was an experiment to test the journal's Rigour#Intellectual rigour, intellectual rigor, specifically to investigate whether "a leading North American journal of cultural studies—whose editorial collective includes such luminaries as Fredric Jameson and Andrew Ross (sociologist), Andrew Ross—[would] publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions." The article, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity", was published in the journal's spring/summer 1996 "Science Wars" issue. It proposed that quantum gravity is a social and linguistic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |