Annals of Improbable Research
publication
The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) is a bimonthly magazine devoted to scientific humor, in the form of a satirical take on the standard academic journal. AIR, published six times a year since 1995, usually showcases at least one piece of scientific research being done on a strange or unexpected topic, but most of their articles concern real or fictional absurd experiments, such as a comparison of apples and oranges using infrared spectroscopy. Other features include such things as ratings of the cafeterias at scientific institutes, fake classifieds and advertisements for a medical plan called HMO-NO, and a very odd letters page. The magazine is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
AIR awards the annual science Ig Nobel Prizes, for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think". AIR also runs the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists.
History
AIR is not the first science parody magazine. The Journal of Irreproducible Results (JIR) was founded by Alex Kohn and Harry J. Lipkin in 1955, but its editorial staff, including editor Marc Abrahams, left after the magazine was bought by publisher George Scherr in 1994. Scherr filed a number of court actions against AIR, alleging that it was deceptively similar to the Journal and that it had stolen the name "Ig Nobel Prize", but these actions were unsuccessful.
Profile
Occasional AIR articles are factual and illuminating, if a bit offbeat.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q564407. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995, 1955 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Annals of Improbable Research” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.