Some of the researchers who investigated the physics of why some wombats have cube-shaped poo [and who subsequently won a prize for having done that] have been pursuing the related question of “why”. The University of Georgia broadcast news of how they are faring: New study finds square feces may deliver information Most people have […]
Scott Carver writes: “I am passing along the latest iteration in the wombat cubed poo story – essentially moving from our previous work on how they make it, now to what they use it for. Enjoy.” That new iteration, a research study, is: “Deriving the functional significance of olfaction in a solitary non‐territorial herbivore: The […]
Encyclopedia Sciplayer made these two videos, each about a different Ig Nobel Prize winner: “Why can itch can be relieved by mirror scratching”: “How do wombats make cubed poo”:
Yes, the wombat-cubical-poo acceptance speech at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony does get a moment in the sun in the NOVA television documentary “Secrets in the Scat.” NOVA describes the episode this way: “Scott Burnett is ‘Scatman’—an Australian ecologist on the trail of the secrets of poop. By identifying and analyzing animal scat for DNA […]