An Ignoble Pursuit: Laughing and Thinking about Science Communication and the Ig Nobel Prize

Episode Summary:

In this episode we are discussing the relationship between science and being funny. Science communication relies on grabbing attention, making science relatable and exciting, and humanising scientists, we talked to Marc Abrahams founder and emcee of the Ig Nobel Prize and editor of Annals of Improbable Research about the role humour plays in this.

Resources and Links:

• Marc Abrahams
• Ig Nobel Prize
• Public engagement factsheet

Episode Quotes:

‘If you spend five seconds really looking at it, there’s something funny about it, and that’s what makes it interesting, and once you're interested, if only for five seconds, now you’re paying attention’

 

‘All of us were looking at each other and thinking: at any moment now some ‘grown up’ person is going to stop us’