Ig Noble Awards

[bystander]

ars technica
Discover Discoblog
National Geographic

[Beyond]

Bystander, i find that i do not have a word to describe your post, so i will borrow one from Ann - GAAAAhhhh

[Ann]

So funny! Aha!!! I love the "swearing reduces pain" discovery. Two groups of people were asked to stick their hands into a bowl of truly ice-cold water. They were then asked to hold their hands down there as long as possible, while repeating a word all the time. One group was told to repeat a harmless word like "pancake" or "umbrella". The other group was asked to repeat a four-letter word of their own choice. The swearing group could hold their hands in the ice-cold water about twice as long as those who just chanted the word "butterfly" or something!

And image that BP and Wall Street didn't turn up to collect their prizes for demonstrating that oil and water mix and that low-risk, high-yield investments are the best!

Ann