Wonderfully improbable

Last month the Ig Nobel Prizes for 2010 were awarded (improbable.com/ig/winners/). I share with you my personal two favourites. The Physics Prize: L. Parkin et al, New Zealand Medical Journal. vol. 122, no, 1298, July 3, 2009, pp. 31-8. For demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes. The Management Prize: A. Pluchino et al, Physica A, vol. 389, no. 3, February 2010, pp. 467-72. For demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.