We got an exciting new banner today from Len the creator of Monster-by-Mail! Head over to his website for some absolutely phenomenal pieces of monster art! (Ohh... and make sure you buy stuff or order your own monster.

Len's banner is now going to rotate with our wonderful old banner done by my cousin Erin.

Here they are :)

The Marauding Omni Brain was created by Erin Higgins who can be reached @ higgsmax2000 -at- hotmail -dot- com

And this wonderful banner (as well as the image above) was created by Len over at Monster by Mail.

Check out the video of him drawing our brains!

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It's that time of year again when the most exciting set of awards for us here at Omni Brain are announced. If you don't know what the Ig Nobels are you're missing out on a very important part of science! According to some article at MSNBC "The annual no-rules awards ceremony, where flying paper airplanes and interrupting honored speakers are commonplace, pokes fun at bizarre and improbable achievements in real-life scientific research."

This year some of my favorite prizes were:

NUTRITION: Brian Wansink of Cornell University, for exploring the seemingly boundless appetites of human beings, by feeding them with a self-refilling, bottomless bowl of soup. REFERENCE: "Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake," Brian Wansink, James E. Painter and Jill North, Obesity Research, vol. 13, no. 1, January 2005, pp. 93-100.

Of course we can't forget the Gay Bomb!

PEACE: The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA, for instigating research & development on a chemical weapon -- the so-called "gay bomb" -- that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other.
REFERENCE: "Harassing, Annoying, and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals," Wright Laboratory, WL/FIVR, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, June 1, 1994.

Too bad the Air Force wasn't there to accept :(

Head over to the Annals of Improbably Research for all the exciting results!

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Have you ever wanted a pre-frontal lobotomy?! I know I have!
Just think by severing connections to your pre-frontal cortex (or just destroying the whole darn thing instead) you can have drastic personality changes! You could even skip that and go straight to mental retardation! Of course we're not sure here at Omni Brain what technique they're using up there in Canada for the lobotomies there are just so many great ones!

You could drill holes in people's heads and then inject alcohol, you could drill a hole in the head and just remove whatever brain matter happens to be sitting around there, or... you could use the classic ice pick through the tear duct then do a little hammering and wiggling. Personally I think I would go for the hammered and wiggled ice pick. I'm betting there isn't much drilling involved in the Canadian procedure. One would imagine that the insurance costs would be much higher for those techniques.

Ok.. I'm full of shit. This is really an art installation. Check out the semi not safe for work video below (there's some potty mouth):

-via Neatorama-

Also.... you cheap bastards need to donate to that there charity over in the sidebar. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

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Via The Center for Narcolepsy at Stanford School of Medicine], this video explains:

Various narcoleptic episodes in dogs. Sporadic cases of narcolepsy in dogs is due to hypocretin peptide deficiency while the familial form is due to mutations in one of the two hypocretin receptor genes (hcrtr2). Various dogs are shown here in a clip narrated by Dr. Emmanuel Mignot.

Or for the tabloid take, watch Skeeter the Narcoleptic Poodle from Inside Edition. "Skeeter's troubles staying awake are heartbreaking..."

Visit the Sleep Foundation to learn more.

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