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I don't quite know how to introduce this one. Some of you may not have heard of the Ig Nobel awards. Well, now you have.

I've read quite a few articles about the Ig Nobel awards over the years, but this one is more entertaining, and more in keeping with the spirit of the awards than the others.

Go there. Read it. It's worth it.

Some of you will have heard about SETI@Home, which uses your computer's spare CPU cycles to help search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, but fewer are aware that the same technology is being applied to help find cures for Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.

It's easy to do, and won't cost you anything, except maybe a few cents' worth of electricity. Just go to Folding@home (folding.stanford.edu) and download and install the software.

ScienceDaily reports that recent research indicates that rats are capable of knowing when they don't know something. This is the first demonstration of this ability in non-primates.

This really sets everything we've been taught on its ear. Danish scientists are claiming that nerve impulses are transmitted by sound rather than electricity.

Shortly after finding that article, I ran into this one: Tuning Out: Music Makes Colonoscopies Less Painful. I suppose it stands to reason.

And, when someone says "That loud music is really getting on my nerves!" it may be more literally true than we thought.