Turn Otters
How To Turn A Door Knob
Hannah Devlin | Guardian | 15th September 2022
Not to be confused with next month's Nobel prizes, the Ig Nobel prizes are awarded by the Annals Of Improbable Research for outstanding achievement in less obvious corners of science. Among this year's winners: Japanese researchers who modelled the best way to turn a big doorknob; and Brazilian researchers who studied how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions (740 words)
Otters As Unsung Muses
Sarah Rose Sharp | Hyperallergic | 28th September 2022
Very possibly the most enthusiastic piece ever to have been written about the place of otters in art, ranging from ancient Egyptian statues of the first millennium BC when otters were worshipped as gods, to the "high otter drama" of Pieter Boel’s Otter Harassed by Dogs in the Prado, to Audubon's watercolours, and to Seki Shuko's Meiji-era paintings on silk. Beautiful illustrations, too (850 words)
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