Unruly: The IG Nobel Prizes & The Science That Refuses To Behave

Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Can condiments solve our energy crisis?
How many people pick their nose?

Believe it or not, these questions come straight from prize-winning research―and the surprising, tender and wonderfully misunderstood world of the Ig Nobel Prizes.

Unruly tours the Ig universe: nominating letters full of chaos and charm, debates that run longer than the calculated time, last-minute reversals, breakthroughs once belittled and the quiet elegance of a prize that allows us to laugh first and think later.

This delightful book also gathers the unseen bits of science; stories usually scrawled in margins. Each page holds crisp irreverence and a deep affection for the accidents, detours and stubborn hope behind a life in science.

Funny, unhinged and quietly radical, this book is an ordinary thinker’s love letter to weird science, weirder scientists and the curiosity that tugs at us long after the hilarity fades.

Upasana is an Indian science writer who escaped a former life in biotechnology. She loves animals, humid weather, and comfortable sandals. She can poorly mimic many creatures, including squirrels and sea lions. For reasons unrelated, she has made numerous visits to the local police station.


Unruly is Upasana's first book.