There’s lots more where this came from, and hair is not always figuratively on these people’s minds, though it is literally, of course, unless they’re bald. Find wads more improbable and unverifiable scientific research at

http://improbable.com/projects/hair/hair-club-top.html

AWARDING THE IG NOBEL PRIZES

     The ANNALS OF IMPROBABLE RESEARCH (AIR) also offers the Ig Nobel Prize, awarded at an annual gala ceremony at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre (yes, really), and presented by a real, live, sometimes bewildered, Nobel Prize winner. The Ig Nobel Prize for Agriculture was once won by the author of “The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers.” The Ig Nobel Prize for Literature was won by “The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them.” And a well deserved prize it is.

     In 2006 the prize was won by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, the man responsible for “demystifying belly button lint,” and in 2007 the Ig Nobel prize for medicine was won by Brian Witcombe of Gloucester, UK, and Dan Meyer of Antioch, Tennessee, USA, for their penetrating medical report "Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects."

     Find much more prizewinning improbable research, plus unnecessary and meaningless photos, at

http://www.improb.com/ig/