Author, News Department
Place of work, BBC Russian Service
Published 4 hours ago
Reading time: 7 min
The Ig Nobel Prize was awarded for the 36th time in Zurich, which goes to scientists whose achievements “first make people laugh and then make people think.” This time, the laureates stepped on different parts of a poisonous snake, studied the biomechanics of kissing and the aerodynamics of blowing their nose, buried and dug up cotton underpants, and sniffed children of different ages.
This year, for the first time, the ceremony was not held in the United States: the organizers decided to move the ceremony to Switzerland due to the tightening of American visa and migration policies.
The awards were presented by the winners of the actual Nobel Prize. The winners had to give “24/7 lectures”: describe their work first in 24 seconds, and then in seven words.
The theme of this year's event was mushrooms, and the highlight of the program was a new operatic aria about mushrooms, performed by Nobel Prize laureates in mushroom costumes. There was also the traditional launch of paper airplanes.
The Ig Nobel Prize has been awarded since 1991, it was established by the comic scientific journal “Annals of Incredible Research”. In the original it is called Ig Nobel Prize: the word ignoble from English can be translated as “shameful”, “unworthy”.
Heartless Rich
A prize in economics was awarded to psychologists who found that rich people are more likely to behave unethically and are capable of taking candy from a child. The subjects were left alone with sweets, intended, as they were told, for children. Wealthy participants took almost twice as much candy as less wealthy participants. “The general pattern seems to be that as people become more wealthy and influential, they become less sensitive to the needs of others and feel less bound by the obligations that arise in social relationships,” suggests one of the study’s authors, Dr. Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California.
In addition, wealthier drivers were more likely to cut off other cars on the road and ignore pedestrians at crossings, and wealthier workers were more likely to lie on the job.
“I have been following the Ig Nobel Prize since my first year of college. I couldn’t even imagine that I would ever get it myself,” Piff is quoted as saying by the Guardian.
What is a kiss?
The Biomechanics Prize was awarded to a group of scientists led by Matilda Brindle from the University of Oxford. They studied the evolution of kissing and concluded that mouth-to-mouth kissing arose among primates more than 21 million years ago. The BBC wrote in detail about this research.
Among other things, scientists formulated a scientific definition of a kiss: non-aggressive, purposeful oral-oral contact “with some movement of the lips or mouthparts without transfer of food.”
As the Guardian notes, Brindle, who is writing a book on non-reproductive sexual behavior, has also studied the evolution of masturbation, making her a strong contender for Marie Curie of the Ig Nobel Prize winners if she wins it more than once. “We're so focused on penises and what they do and why they're important, but all these other sexual behaviors are important too,” she said.
In comments to CNN, she noted that recently, fields of science that are not directly related to commercial industry and technology are increasingly considered less important.
“Of course, applied research is vitally important, but if we stop looking at the world around us and asking why, it will be a serious loss. Curiosity for curiosity’s sake is the fundamental engine of science,” she is sure.
How to use physics to save money on cleaning toilets?
The physics prize went to students led by Kavi Thurairaja from the University of Waterloo in Canada, who studied the entry of a stream of urine into a urinal. They found that if the stream hits the urinal at an angle of less than 30 degrees, there is little to no splashing, and then they designed a urinal that was shaped to produce minimal splashing regardless of the direction of the stream. According to the study authors, the new urinal design reduces splashing to 1.4% of the splashing volume generated by a standard urinal.
“Widespread adoption of the designs described in the paper would allow significant savings in human resources, money, cleaning products and water, having a large-scale positive impact on modern society by increasing environmental sustainability, hygiene and accessibility,” the study emphasizes.
They estimate that while it currently costs C$122,418.18 per year (approximately $88,700 US) to clean one Toronto subway toilet, using the new design would save C$10,000 (approximately $7,200 US) per year per toilet.
We need evil friends
The Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a team of scientists who found that people prefer to be friends with those with whom they have a common enemy than with those who bear no grudge against anyone.
“Sometimes we wish our friends would behave more cruelly and indifferently when dealing with our enemies. In a variety of situations, I felt incredibly loved when people hated someone for me and were willing to take my side,” says study co-author Dr. Jamie Krems of the University of California, Los Angeles.
These findings challenge some long-held conclusions that people prefer more prosocial people and enrich our understanding of what it means to consider a person kind, the study notes.
Unethical snake research
Brazilian scientists wore safety boots to step on snakes to find out what causes them to bite. The study used a specific species of snake, the common jararaka, found in central and southern Brazil. From 80 to 90% of all snake bites in Brazil occur, and without medical attention, people die in 10-12% of cases.
It turned out that the most dangerous thing was to step on the head of the jararaka, and newborn females were most likely to bite.
Although the researchers claimed to have stepped on the animals carefully, the journal Scientific Reports retracted the study after publication. As it turned out, the Animal Ethics Committee of the Butantan Institute gave the authors of the study permission that did not include the use of newborn snakes and the “soft stepping” method.
However, this did not become an obstacle to receiving the Ig Nobel Prize in biology.
How to blow your nose correctly?
The medical prize was posthumously awarded to the Japanese scientist and otolaryngologist Tokuji Unno, who developed instructions for blowing the nose by studying the aerodynamics of this process.
According to the Japan Times, the study was conducted back in 1977. It says that for best nose blowing, you should inhale moderately and then exhale forcefully, and it is best to clear each nostril separately. This will help avoid injury and prevent respiratory diseases.
Instead of Unno, his colleague Miki Takahara came to present the award. He exceeded the time allotted for his speech, so he was driven away from the podium by three people dressed as bananas - this is one of the rules of the ceremony.
Mosquitoes' contribution to 3D printing
Chinese scientists decided to test what would happen if they used insect proboscis in a 3D printer. It turned out that the proboscis of female mosquitoes can withstand greater internal pressure and improve typing accuracy. They called this method of printing “necroprinting.” This earned them an Ig Nobel Prize for technology.
Changhong Cao, a co-author of the study who attended the awards, assured CNN that no one plans to create a print head from mosquito proboscis.
Cockroach milk is more nutritious than cow's milk
The Chemistry Prize was awarded to a team of scientists from India, France, Japan and the USA. They examined protein crystals isolated from the midgut of the embryo of viviparous cockroaches Diploptera punctata - this is the “milk” that the young feed on while the female carries them.
Cockroach milk turned out to be surprisingly nutritious, containing more protein than, for example, cow's milk.
How quickly do panties rot in the garden?
In 2021, scientists from the University of Zurich and the Agroskop research center called for volunteers to bury cotton underpants and tea bags in the ground.
Two months later, the panties and bags were dug up and the condition of the soil in different regions of the country was examined based on the degree of their decomposition. The higher the biological activity of the soil (that is, the more worms, fungi, bacteria and other organisms there are), the faster the tissue decayed. The most biologically active soil turned out to be in private gardens, and the worst tissue decayed in lawns. Arable lands and meadows had average indicators.
What do children of different ages smell like?
