Cosmic Log

Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News

18 hours ago

Jenny Ricken / Univ. of Duisberg-Essen via AFP - Getty Images

One of the dogs participating in a study of the canine "inner compass" does its business in Mlheim an der Ruhr (City on the River) in Germany. Researchers found that dogs seem to prefer to align themselves with magnetic field lines when they defecate.

Does an internal compass dictate how dogs line up when they defecate? How do you figure that out? And why would you want to?

Such are the questions you get into when addressing the weirdest subjects of scientific research.

"If something's not familiar to you, it's going to seem weird. But a big part of a scientist's job is to study and make sense of what's not familiar. They focus your attention on it, and you think, 'Whoa, that's really interesting!' At that moment, 'weird' and 'interesting' are exactly the same thing," said Marc Abrahams, who collects weird science as the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and the impresario behind the annual Ig Nobel Prizes.

Abrahams is due to discuss the philosophy behind science that makes you laugh, and then makes you think, during Fridays edition of "Virtually Speaking Science." The hourlong talk show, hosted by yours truly, airs at 8 p.m. ET Friday on BlogTalkRadio and in the Second Life virtual world.

This show celebrates the Ig Nobels and our own Weird Science Awards, plus the latest in offbeat research such as that study on doo-doo directionality. The paper, published online in a peer-reviewed journal titled Frontiers in Zoology, was featured this week on Abrahams' website, Improbable.com. It could end up as a future Ig Nobel and Weirdie winner.

See original here:
Do dogs possess a poop compass? (And other weird science questions)