Scientific endeavors that seem frivolous at first were recognized for their innovation by Ig Nobels awards organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Designed as a spoof of the Nobel Prizes, the event took place in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday as a part of the 36th edition of the annual awards with “fungi” as the theme.
A total of 10 pieces of unique research projects were honoured for their scientific achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think,” a statement from the organizers said. Nobel laureates dressed as mushrooms performed a new operatic song about fungi to celebrate unusual discoveries. Reinforcing the value of curiosity in science amidst commercial pressures, these awards acknowledged unconventional research projects under several categories, including economics, chemistry and technology.
Economics prize: The research observed that “upper class people are more likely to snatch from a children’s supply of candy, and engage in other kinds of unethical behavior.”
Chemistry prize: This award was given to research that found contains three times as much energy as cow’s milk.
Biomechanics prize: This award was claimed by a study detailing the evolutionary history of kissing. University of Oxford Evolutionary biologist and study’s co-author Matilda Brindle in an interview with CNN said, “Science has been under attack for a while now, and fields that are less obviously aligned with commercial industry and technology are increasingly deemed to be less important.”
She added, “Of course, applied research is vital, but it would be a grave loss if we stopped looking at the world around us and asking ‘why?’. Curiosity for its own sake is fundamental to how science moves forward.”
Medicine prize: A study titled, “How to Blow the Nose — An Aerodynamic Study of the Nose Blowing” secured the medicine prize.
Technology prize: Innovative 3D printing technique called “necroprinting” won its authors technology prize. It is designed as 3D printing nozzles. Canada’s McGill University associate professor and co-author of the necroprinting study, Changhong Cao hailed the Ig Nobel awards and said that they “help legitimize … exploratory thinking.” “Nobody sets out planning to build a 3D printing nozzle from a mosquito. We got there by paying close attention to something that seems irrelevant, and staying open to where it leads,” Cao said as reported by CNN.
Physics prize: A study about design raked in Physics prize.
North Carolina’s Lenoir-Rhyne University associate professor Carly Anne York, who authored “The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science,” said, “Gaining knowledge is never a frivolous endeavor, no matter how silly the topic may seem.”
Suggesting that these inventions make one laugh and then think, she added, “From dirty underpants for soil science to 3D mosquito models, this year’s award winners took seemingly far-fetched ideas and turned them into legitimate research projects. And yes, these are legitimate scientific endeavors.”
