I’ve attended more than a dozen Ig Nobel presentations down in Boston and you can’t imagine anything more light-heartened and goofy in an intellectual sort of way, as if a bunch of Gary Larsen cartoons taped to research lab doors came to life. But right now nothing is light-hearted in the world of science: “Amid Trump research cuts, visa restrictions, and international conflicts, some winners sit out the celebration of whimsical science” is how Science, the AAAS publication, put it in this article.
In all, nearly half of this year’s Ig Nobel recipients declined to attend. .
“The situation has “been really agonizing for us,” says Marc Abrahams, founder and master of ceremonies of the Ig Nobels and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine. “We’ve been trying, with the winners, to simultaneously make it clear that we’re really eager to have [them] here … but we want [them] to be safe and comfortable.”
This doesn’t rank very high on the long litany of damage the administration is doing to this country and the world. But it’s still a shame, an absolute friggin’ shame.
Return to the Concord Monitor