Uploaded August 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Announcing the 2nd Annual Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses (BAHFest)
You know that science and evolutionary theory have arrived when they become the subject of humor without any overt attempt at education. Welcome to BAHFest, a festival of bad ad hoc hypotheses that is the creation of webcomic writer and illustrator Zach Weinersmith. The festival is inspired by one of Zach’s SMBC cartoons depicting a scientist proposing that babies are shaped like footballs so they can be punted from village to village to avoid inbreeding. It was so popular that Zach and his wife, evolutionary biologist Kelly Weinersmith, decided to stage a competition of bad ad hoc hypotheses. An ecstatic audience of over 1000 people attended the first BAHFest at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium in October 2013. Videos of the contestants are available on the BAHFest website along with information on the 2nd Annual BAHFest, which will be held on both coasts.
Not only can you contemplate attending BAHFest, but you can still be a contestant! Submissions are being accepted until August 22.
As Zach explains in our video interview, BAHFest (http://bahfest.com) has no intentional educative function whatsoever, but its appeal speaks volumes about the amount of education that has already taken place – in at least some segments of the American population.
Announcing the 2nd Annual Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses (BAHFest)
You know that science and evolutionary theory have arrived when they become the subject of humor without any overt attempt at education. Welcome to BAHFest, a festival of bad ad hoc hypotheses that is the creation of webcomic writer and illustrator Zach Weinersmith. The festival is inspired by one of Zach’s SMBC cartoons depicting a scientist proposing that babies are shaped like footballs so they can be punted from village to village to avoid inbreeding. It was so popular that Zach and his wife, evolutionary biologist Kelly Weinersmith, decided to stage a competition of bad ad hoc hypotheses. An ecstatic audience of over 1000 people attended the first BAHFest at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium in October 2013. Videos of the contestants are available on the BAHFest website along with information on the 2nd Annual BAHFest, which will be held on both coasts.
Not only can you contemplate attending BAHFest, but you can still be a contestant! Submissions are being accepted until August 22.
As Zach explains in our video interview, BAHFest (http://bahfest.com) has no intentional educative function whatsoever, but its appeal speaks volumes about the amount of education that has already taken place – in at least some segments of the American population.
