Welcome to the long‑awaited site update october! After a six‑year hiatus, a mountain of changes has piled up, and we’re finally ready to spill the beans. From a fresh competition with a $3,000 prize pool to updates on payments, ads, social channels, and much more, this is the first of many bulletins we’ll be sharing.

10 Competition

To celebrate my comeback and to give the writing crew a new spark, I’ve launched a competition. Throughout October, November and December, the author whose list garners the highest total page‑views will walk away with a $1,000 US cash prize. If you’ve never contributed before, now’s a perfect moment to give it a go. Aside from the contest, we still pay $100 US for every list we publish. Below is the exact email I sent to all past contributors announcing the challenge:

“I am excited to announce that for the remainder of this year we will be giving a monthly $1,000 US bonus payment to the writer who achieves the highest number of pageviews in that month.

All you need to do to qualify is submit a list as usual, and if it is published you will be in the draw. You will, of course, receive the standard payment per list accepted.

To increase your chances of being published we strongly recommend sending in content that is unique and fascinating. Please do a web search on to ensure that your lists contain new items only (we don’t want to publish lists with one or two replicated entries from older lists) and also make sure that you are not sending us content that is similar to lists published on other websites.

The Author’s Guide has been updated recently to simplify and clarify a few points. You can view it here.”

9 Difficult Life Events

Long‑time readers will recall that I founded the site in 2007 and ran it solo for the first six years. I also penned the majority of the early articles until 2012, after which my output slowed considerably. In those early days I struggled with heavy drinking, and in 2014 I entered rehab—a decision that turned out to be one of the best I ever made. During that period I handed the reins over to Micah Duke.

Then, in 2015, my father, Adam Frater (pictured above with my mother), was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure from his work as a fibrous plasterer. The disease spread to his brain and claimed his life within months. Over the next three years, the family endured further losses: two aunts (Liz and June), two cousins (Cherelyne and Kevin), and two uncles (John and Roddy). All of this made it extremely hard to keep the site moving forward.

Just as I began to settle into a new normal that allowed me to contemplate a 2017 return, my brother Stewart Frater (aka kiwiboi) was diagnosed with Non‑Hodgkin lymphoma and passed away a year later. That blow delayed my comeback again. Most recently, in March of this year, my mother Lois—who had contributed a few lists and was a frequent commenter—was diagnosed with the same asbestos‑related cancer that took my father. Doctors believe she was exposed while doing my father’s laundry years earlier. She passed away three weeks after diagnosis.

These cumulative tragedies have been a heavy burden, but in early September I finally resumed full editorial and managerial duties. Rebuilding the site to its former glory will take time, but I’m fully committed to making it happen.

8 Payments And Other Admin

Now that I am once again the sole administrator, the workload is massive. As a result, I have been inconsistent in the interval between accepting lists and issuing payments. I want to assure everyone that payments are my top priority, and I expect to be back on a regular schedule within the next two weeks. No payments have been missed—only delayed. Likewise, response times to emails and social‑media messages have suffered, but I am actively working to fix both issues.

7 Problematic Adverts

It has come to my attention that several problematic adverts have been appearing across the site. If you encounter any ads that obscure the text or make reading difficult, please snap a screenshot and email me (protected email) or send it via the Facebook page immediately. Including your operating system and browser details will help us resolve the issue more quickly. Our small ad‑operations team is standing by to investigate. In the past I was slow to react, but that has now changed.

6 Follow Us On Social Media

Just a reminder that we maintain active social‑media profiles. Daily lists are posted on Facebook and Twitter, and we also have an Instagram account for those who prefer visual updates. Of course, you can always reach us via email at the protected address.

5 Youtube

We already run a YouTube channel, though uploads have been infrequent. I plan to relaunch it early next year with a much larger, more serious effort. I’d love to hear your suggestions about what you’d like to see on an official channel. Beyond list presentations, there’s huge potential for diverse content, so please share your ideas in the comments.

4 Books

If you’re new here, you might not know we offer a selection of books for purchase on Amazon. Links to those books are available on the Books page. With Christmas just around the corner, a book makes a perfect gift for anyone who loves lists and trivia. The Books page also features a handful of recommendations and a link to our books category, which we’re working to expand.

3 Subscriptions

In a recent “Your View” poll I asked whether readers would consider a subscription model for the site’s future. Advertising revenue is shrinking across the board due to ad‑blockers and a tough online economy. However, most of you opposed replacing ads with subscriptions, so we’ll keep the current model for now. If ad revenue ever drops below the level needed to cover costs, we’ll have to explore alternatives, but that scenario hasn’t arrived yet.

2 Thank You

The past five years have been extremely challenging, yet you have continued to visit, comment, read, and keep the community alive. Without your dedication, the site would not exist. I can’t thank you enough for your loyalty during the times when I was unable to give back. I intend to repay your support many times over, just as I did when I first launched the platform back in 2007.

1 What Do You Want?

We can’t wrap up a site update without hearing your wishes for the future. If there’s anything you’d like to see more of—or less of—please let us know in the comments. Got a brand‑new idea for a feature or a completely different direction? Share it below; you never know, your suggestion might spark the next big thing here.

The Nobel Prize is steeped in controversy, and this year’s roster of laureates adds fresh fuel to the fire. From accusations of genocide denial to sexual‑abuse scandals and glaring Eurocentric bias, the awards continue to split opinion. In this rundown we’ll unpack the ten most startling revelations that surround the Nobel’s storied history.

10 Shocking Facts About the Nobel Prize

10 Fritz Haber, the “Father of Chemical Warfare”

Fritz Haber stands among the most divisive Nobel recipients. To some, he is a brilliant chemist who revolutionised ammonia production; to others, he is the reviled architect behind Germany’s chemical‑warfare programme during the First World War.

Born into a Jewish family in Breslau – now Wrocław, Poland – Haber teamed up with Carl Bosch around the turn of the twentieth century to perfect a method for synthesising ammonia gas. This breakthrough underpins modern fertiliser manufacturing, feeding roughly half of the world’s population and saving billions from starvation. For this monumental achievement he received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, while Bosch was honoured in 1931.

When the Great War erupted, Haber redirected his talents toward weapons development, heading the Chemistry Section of the German Ministry of War. He spearheaded the deployment of chlorine gas on the Western Front, earning the grim moniker “father of chemical warfare.” The lethal gas drifted across no‑man’s land, sinking into enemy trenches and suffocating soldiers. Estimates suggest over a million lives were claimed by chemical attacks during WWI. Haber also demonstrated how ammonia could be oxidised into nitric acid, a key ingredient for explosives.

9 Peter Handke, an Accused Genocide Apologist

The Nobel Prize in Literature frequently sparks heated debate, often framed as a clash of aesthetic preferences. Yet the controversy surrounding Peter Handke plunges far deeper, touching on matters of historical truth and moral responsibility.

Handke, an Austrian playwright, has been accused of championing Slobodan Milošević’s genocidal regime during the Bosnian wars. He publicly denied the Srebrenica massacre, the largest mass killing in Europe since WWII, in which more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were executed in 1995. Handke further inflamed the debate by suggesting that the atrocities in Sarajevo were self‑inflicted by the Bosnian Muslims to vilify Serbian forces.

The 2019 award ignited outrage among writers and activists worldwide. Figures such as Salman Rushdie, Slavoj Žižek and Jennifer Egan condemned the decision, with Egan describing herself as “dumbfounded” by a laureate who “uses his public voice to undercut historical truth and offer succor to perpetrators of genocide.” The literary community continues to wrestle with the implications of his selection.

8 Kary Mullis, the Narcotic Astrologer

Kary Mullis, a 1993 Nobel laureate in Chemistry, is as famous for his scientific breakthroughs as for his eccentric personal beliefs. He co‑developed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique that can amplify tiny amounts of DNA into millions of copies, revolutionising fields from forensic science to archaeology.

Beyond his Nobel‑winning work, Mullis cultivated a reputation for wild behaviour: he openly advocated LSD use, claimed a steadfast belief in astrology, and even alleged an alien raccoon abducted him. He also voiced controversial opinions questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. Despite these quirks, the Nobel Committee still deemed his contributions worthy of the highest honour.

7 Egas Moniz, Inventor of the Lobotomy

By today’s standards, the lobotomy feels more like medieval torture than a legitimate psychiatric treatment. Yet in the early twentieth century it was hailed as a cutting‑edge “cure” for mental illness, with roughly 20,000 patients in the United States undergoing the procedure.

Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz introduced the operation in the mid‑1930s, initially describing it as a “simple, always safe” technique. Early patients, however, suffered severe personality changes, some becoming child‑like, while others slipped into vegetative states. The procedure’s high‑risk side effects have since rendered it widely condemned as unethical.

Moniz received the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for pioneering the lobotomy, despite the limited scientific understanding of its consequences at the time. Some historians argue the award legitimised the practice, bolstering its popularity. Appeals to rescind the prize have been denied, with the committee asserting that the 1940s context offered no better alternatives.

6 Soviet Repression

Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago, was announced as the 1958 Nobel Laureate in Literature. His novel, initially rejected by Soviet publishers for “malicious libel of the USSR,” soon gained traction abroad and was seized by the United States as anti‑Soviet propaganda, with the CIA distributing copies globally.

While Pasternak celebrated his accolade, Soviet authorities branded him a “literary weed,” subjecting him to intense press vilification. Under Nikita Khrushchev’s regime, he faced pressure to renounce the prize, ultimately being forced to decline it to avoid exile.

Similarly, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, awarded the 1970 Nobel in Literature, was barred from traveling to Oslo and later expelled from the USSR for treason, illustrating how the Nobel could become a flashpoint for Cold‑War politics.

5 Sexual Assault and Financial Misconduct

In 2018, Swedish cultural figure Jean‑Claude Arnault faced a torrent of allegations involving sexual assault and financial impropriety. The 72‑year‑old was accused of rape, assault, and harassment by eighteen women, while evidence also suggested he and his wife Katarina, a member of the Swedish Academy, leaked the names of several prize winners ahead of announcement.

The scandal escalated to the point where the Nobel Committee was compelled to cancel that year’s Literature Prize. Arnault, who boasted of being the unofficial “nineteenth member” of the Academy, was convicted of rape in October 2018 and sentenced to two years in prison.

4 Alexis Carrel, Surgeon and Eugenicist

Alexis Carrel, a French biologist, earned the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for pioneering work in transplant surgery. Three years later, amid World War I, he devised an innovative antiseptic treatment for wounds, cementing his reputation as a medical innovator.

However, Carrel’s legacy darkened in the 1930s when he published Man, The Unknown, openly endorsing eugenics. He argued that “desirable” women should exclusively reproduce with “desirable” men, while advocating the sterilisation or even extermination of “undesirable” individuals, including proposals for gas‑chamber disposal of criminals.

3 D. Carleton Gajdusek, Perverse Criminal

Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, an American physician, shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on infectious diseases. He famously linked the fatal brain disorder kuru among the Fore tribe of New Guinea to a ritual of cannibalistic consumption of human brains, a groundbreaking discovery in prion disease.

Despite his scientific acclaim and generosity—adopting around fifty impoverished Pacific children and funding their U.S. education—Gajdusek’s reputation collapsed in 1997 when two of his protégés accused him of sexually abusing under‑age boys. He pleaded guilty to molestation and served a one‑year prison sentence.

2 Aung San Suu Kyi, Apologist for Ethnic Cleansing

The Nobel Peace Prize has a long‑standing history of contentious laureates, from Henry Kissinger to the European Union. In recent years, Aung San Suu Kyi, awarded the prize in 1991, has become a focal point of debate.

In 2018, the United Nations released a damning report documenting the Myanmar military’s systematic persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. Findings detailed mass killings, gang rapes, and the forced displacement of over 700,000 Rohingya, many seeking refuge in Bangladesh.

As Myanmar’s de facto leader, Suu Kyi faced global criticism for defending the regime’s actions. Nevertheless, the Nobel Committee has refused to rescind her award, sparking ongoing controversy.

1 William Shockley, White Supremacist

William Shockley, a pioneering American physicist, launched the first silicon‑semiconductor laboratory in Mountain View, California, in 1956—a cornerstone of today’s Silicon Valley. That same year he received the Nobel Prize for his pivotal role in inventing the transistor, a device essential to computers, smartphones and the modern Internet.

Beyond his scientific triumphs, Shockley harboured extremist views. He became an outspoken white supremacist, promoting the notion of racial IQ disparity and advocating eugenic policies that would financially incentivise the sterilisation of “genetically disadvantaged” (i.e., Black) populations.

To win a Nobel Prize is one of the greatest honors in the academic world. Scientists, writers, politicians, journalists, and more are nominated each year to receive the coveted award at the Nobel Prize Ceremony, held in Stockholm. While the Nobel Prize Foundation’s committee is busy deciding who will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to society that year, another group is making selections of a different type.

The Annals of Improbable Research is a satirical magazine that publishes news of real but peculiar goings-on in the world of science. Each year, they celebrate individuals who have made a mark with their strange and humorous scientific research. This lighthearted award is designed to “honor achievements that make people laugh, then think,” and its ceremony is held at Harvard University every September.

Here are ten hilariously weird winners of the Ig Nobel award.

10 Researcher Lives as a Goat

In 2016, the Ig Nobel Biology Prize was awarded jointly to Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites. Throughout his career, Foster, who is an Oxford University graduate, lived in the wild as a bird, a badger, a deer, an otter, and a fox. He explains that his motivation in all his research is to discover “who or what are we?” and “what on earth are we doing here?”

Thomas Thwaites, however, had his own reasons for building prosthetic leg extensions and traveling to the Alps to live among a herd of goats. He explains, “I tried to become a goat to escape the angst inherent in being a human. The project became an exploration of how close modern technology can take us in fulfilling an ancient human dream: to take on characteristics from other animals.”^[1]

9 Levitating Frogs

Andre Geim of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University, England, won the prize in physics for their research into levitation. Using a Levitron, a device consisting of opposing magnets that interact to create a magnetic field, the researchers managed to levitate a living frog six feet (1.82 meters) into the air.

Frogs weren’t the only species to have a turn floating in mid-air, however. The researchers also caused a fish to levitate, as well as a mouse and some vegetables. Geim’s brilliant mind and out-of-the-box thinking have earned him the distinction of being the first person ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize, as well as the Ig Nobel Prize.^[2]

8 Management vs. Voodoo

In 2017, the Ig Nobel Economics prize was taken home by six researchers for their joint effort in discovering whether voodoo dolls could be used to help employees deal with their abusive bosses. The team states that it is natural for people to want to retaliate against mean management but also that direct retaliation may do more harm than good. The solution? Round up a large group of employees, give them access to voodoo dolls, ask the participants to name the doll with the initials of their boss, and go to town!

Using pins, pliers, and flame, the group was encouraged to punish the little playthings while thinking of a time they were wronged by their doll’s namesake. The results speak for themselves. After beating up their voodoo dolls, the participants experienced a reduction in their internal sense of injustice. Not to worry, though. None of the ills inflicted on the voodoo dolls affected management… we think.^[3]

7 Insect Stings on the Penis for Science

Justin Schmidt was jointly awarded the Physiology and Entomology prize for his mission to rank over 83 insects based on the painfulness of their sting. Outrageously, Schmidt took it upon himself to personally experience each and every sting. With the results of his research, he created the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which sorted each creature on a scale of 1 to 4. Schmidt rated one of the most painful stings as coming from the bullet ant. He ranked its sting as a 4 and described it as “pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.”

The other winner that year was Michael L. Smith. He conducted his research into the painfulness of a honey bee’s sting. Not just once but 28 times, all over his body, including the back of his knee, the arch of his foot, and his nipple. He then ranked their painfulness on a scale of 1 to 10. Smith stated that the most painful places to be stung by a bee were on the nostril, the upper lip, and the penis shaft.^[4]

6 Tanks for Solving a Parking Issue

It’s not only scientific researchers who are awarded for their ingenuity when it comes to the Ig Nobels. Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2011, took to the streets to remedy the problem of luxury car owners parking illegally and blocking the city’s bicycle lanes. Using a tank-like armored vehicle, Zuokas was filmed joyfully rolling over an expensive-looking car, completely crushing it.

Available for viewing on YouTube, the narrator in the video states that a tank is the best solution to deal with drivers who think they’re above the law. Whether the action was genuine or a stunt remains to be seen but likely left local drivers wondering if parking illegally is worth the risk.^[5]

5 Narcissists and Their Eyebrows

The 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, which was held in 2020, was the first time the ceremony was hosted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule jointly received the Psychology Prize. Their research was dedicated to discovering whether those with grandiose narcissism can be identified by only the thickness and density of their eyebrows.

The broader aim of the pair’s research was to potentially help others identify narcissists in their everyday lives and thereby know who to avoid. Throughout their experiments, the researchers claim that “distinctive eyebrows reveal narcissists’ personality to others, providing a basic understanding of the mechanism through which people can identify narcissistic personality traits with potential application to daily life.”^[6]

4 Do I Smell Bacon?

In 2014, a group of four researchers from the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan discovered that sometimes old treatments are just what the doctor ordered. For those who suffer from serious recurring nosebleeds, all manner of remedies have been tested over the years, mainly in the form of packing the nose with different materials.

In this particular case, the four researchers decided to give an old wives’ tale a try. And it worked. A patient’s serious nosebleed disorder was treated like this: “cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae.” If it works, it works!^[7]

3 Wombat Mystery Poop

Bare-nosed wombats are chubby, cuddly-looking marsupials that are endemic to Australia. Their closest living relative is the koala, with which they share their herbivorous diet. Unlike koalas, however, they have cube-shaped poop. In fact, wombats are the only known animals to have this unusual dung. And in 2019, a group of seven researchers came together to get to the bottom of it.

Wombats who had previously fallen victim to South Australian drivers were collected and dissected by the team who examined them. It was established that wombats have circular bottoms, not square and that the molding actually takes place inside the intestines. Some parts of the intestine turned out to be firm, while other sections were soft. This, combined with the way the insides contract during digestion, was what turned out to produce the poop that had previously been a mystery to us all.^[8]

2 Beards for Self Defense

Beards—what are they good for? Catching crumbs? Attracting mates? How about dampening punches to the face? In 2021, Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier completed their research into the topic and won an Ig Nobel Peace prize as a result. Instead of having volunteers struck in the face for science, prosthetic bones were created for the experiment and covered in sheepskin. Some of these samples had wool intact, while some had been shorn. They were then struck, and the pressure was measured.

The results did indeed show that hair (or wool) absorbs a significant amount of blunt force. Some researchers have hypothesized that, like male lions, male humans may have developed longer hair around the neck and jaw to protect these delicate areas from attack.^[9]

1 Decongestants or Orgasms?

In 2016, a small team of researchers from Germany, Turkey, and the UK worked together to discover whether sexual orgasms can compete with decongestants when it comes to clearing the airways. The group states that “a physiological connection between the nose and the genitals has long been proposed.” One of the men who once delved into this area of research was an ear, nose, and throat doctor and a close friend of Sigmund Freud.

Instead of a strange Freudian link, however, the relation between sex and clearing a blocked nose may be down to the combination of physical exercise along with the hormonal changes that occur during intercourse. Both of these things have previously been shown to have decongestant properties. Either way, the results were clear. Sexual climax can improve nasal breathing to the same degree as a nasal decongestant for up to 60 minutes in those with a blocked nose. Good to know for the cold and flu season!^[10]