couple of scientists in Israel in the 1950s. But by the time I got to it, it was in such bad shape that anybody could improve it. So I found the original guys, a couple more, and we started the Ig Nobel ceremonies. All kinds of good things started happening. Then the company publishing it got a new president who decided he wanted to kill off a lot of their publications. So after a few years, rather than watching the thing disappear, I invited everyone who'd ever been involved to start a new thing, with a new name. And the guy who came up with the name of the original, I made sure he got to name the new one. In the early days, how did you find the studies you covered? There was still a bunch of people who knew of the previous journal. There was a gang of people who had been doing this stuff and had no place to send it. As time went on it became easier and easier. There's so much stuff out there. So much stuff. And some of it has this quality we look for: it makes you laugh, and then makes you think. It sticks in your head. And a week later it's all you want to talk about. How do you choose the research that features in The Annals of Improbable Research ? With great difficulty. I could live off the pile I have now for 10 or 20 years. But