The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean · Sam Kean, Bleav
The Dignity of the Ig Nobel Prizes
October 14, 2025·18 min·1 clip
Scientists won an Ig Nobel for proving mammals can breathe through their anus, research born from a quest to save COVID patients with failing lungs.
As heard by us
A strange prize ceremony makes the case for taking ridiculous science seriously.
An absurd prize ceremony gives the episode a clean question: when scientific work looks ridiculous, what can it still reveal? It opens with Eleanor McGuire's study of London cab drivers, whose hippocampi grew far larger after mastering 25,000 streets, then follows a trail…
Why you'd press play
You get a science story where London cabbies, Zimbabwean cash, and one startling duck case share the stage.
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