The 15th Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony – a parallel award to the Nobel Prize, honoring “improbable and will not be repeated” inventions, took place on the morning of October 7 at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University (USA).
The Ig Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Professor John Mainstone and the late Professor Thomas Parnell from the University of Queensland (Australia) for their patient experimentation with pitch, which has been dripping through a funnel since 1927 to demonstrate that pitch can flow like a liquid over time. Over nearly 80 years, the pitch has dripped just 8 drops.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Biology went to Professor Mike Tyler from the University of Adelaide (Australia) for his research on the scent of frogs. Professor Tyler concluded that each species of frog has a distinctive odor when stressed, including scents of peanuts, cashews, Indian curry, freshly cut grass, and spoiled food.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Gregg Miller from Missouri (USA) for inventing silicone artificial dog testicles. He mortgaged his house to mass-produce testicles for neutered dogs and has since established a thriving business in this niche.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to researchers Edward Cussler and Brian Gettelfinger from the University of Minnesota (USA) for investigating whether swimming in freshwater is faster than swimming in regular water. The experiment required 22 types of permits and volunteers concluded that swimming in both environments is the same.
The Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Claire Rind and Peter Simmons from the University of Newcastle (UK) for their project monitoring the brain activity of locusts while they watched selected clips from the “Star Wars” films.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Nigerian internet entrepreneurs for sending emails to millions of addresses, claiming to be wealthy individuals wanting to donate large sums of money and requesting people to disclose their personal account information to transfer the funds.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Economics went to Gauri Nanda from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) for inventing an alarm clock that can run away on two wheels so that the person being awakened cannot simply turn it off. The Ig Nobel Prizes were also awarded in the fields of Nutrition, Agricultural History, and Fluid Dynamics.
C.T (Ig Nobel webpage)