The Conversation

Lord Toast. Credit: Catarina Mota, CC BY-NC-SABy Akshat Rathi, The Conversation and Flora Lisica, The ConversationThe 24th Ig Nobel prizes were announced on September 18th. The prizes annually award scientific research that “first makes people laugh and then makes them think."

Could novels help us fight climate change? Credit: Asian Development Bank/flickrBy Stephanie LeMenager, University of OregonA frail risk analyst rediscovers his inner frontiersman in a devastating flood that hits Manhattan; an insightful rural woman glimpses the grace of god in the revelations of biological science; genetically engineered hominids who purr themselves to wellness inherit a devastated Earth.

Metoera. Credit:Panos Photographia/FlickrBy Steve Ellen, Monash UniversityEveryday life is full of mini-ethical moments. Do you own up to being under charged? Do you push in when the traffic is heavy and you’re running late? Do you hassle your kid’s teacher to get little Jimmie or Jane an advantage?Most of us do our best, but various emotions, motives, and practicalities act to push us to our limits. Sometimes our limits are breached – mine were on a recent tour in Greece.

Don't bank on it. Credit: SabinurceBy Kristine Alexander, University of Vermont

There is never enough of this golden beauty. Credit: bradhigham, CC BYBy Angela White, University of Sheffield

Australia's coast is famous around the world - but rising sea levels are poised to make things a lot less fun. Credit: Adam J.W.C./Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SABy Martin Rice; John Hunter, University of Tasmania; Lesley Hughes, and Will Steffen, Australian National University

You lookin’ at me?Gareth Fuller/PABy Tom Foulsham, University of EssexAre you being recorded? Thanks to the ubiquity of CCTV and camera phones, the answer is more than ever before likely to be “Yes”. Add to this the growth of wearable technology such as Google Glass and people are increasingly exposed to devices that can monitor and record them, whether they realize it or not.

Can the brown anole lizard outrun climate change? Credit: Ianaré Sévi, CC BYBy Amanda Bates, University of Southampton

Is this really necessary? Credit: EPABy John Weeks, SOAS, University of LondonThe Obama administration has proposed several ad hoc multi-country economic agreements, and in doing so has abandoned de facto the World Trade Organization (WTO) as insufficiently malleable to its interests. The two most important of these are the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the more recent Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Good nose. Credit:  Lowjumpingfrog, CC BYBy Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, University of Liverpool

If bloggers are journalists, should they all benefit from the same legal protections? Credit: Jonathan Ah Kit/FlickrBy Jane JohnstonA New Zealand High Court judgment handed down on Friday will have far-reaching implications for journalists and bloggers, as courts around the world consider the rapidly changing definitions of journalism.