Ig Nobel
'The Stinker,' official mascot of the Ig Nobels.
Image source
The Ig Nobel Prize has been awarded annually since 1991 to
encourage public interest in scientific research. It is a parody of the Nobel
Prize, and purported to be named after Ignatius Nobel, a fictitious cousin of
Alfred Nobel. Though satirical in nature, most awards are for genuine
scientific achievements.
The awards are presented to the winners in ten categories by
Nobel laureates. Each winner gives a one-minute acceptance speech and receives
a simple, cheap prize.
The Igs were created in 1991 by Marc Abrahams for discoveries ‘that
cannot or should not be reproduced.’ They were designed to ‘honour achievements
that first make people laugh, and then make them think.’
Sometimes apparently unimportant research results in serious
breakthroughs. A 2006 study by Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong showed that
mosquitoes are attracted equally to the smells of Limburger cheese and human
feet. That study was awarded an Ig Nobel prize for Biology. Subsequently, traps
baited with Limburger cheese have been used in Africa in the fight against
malaria.
More information can be found here. Below are a few of the
sometimes bizarre awards that have been made since 1991.
The 2009 Ig Nobel Veterinary Medicine
award was won by Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson ‘for
showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless.’
The 2011 Psychology award was presented
to Karl Jalvor Teigen ‘for trying to understand
why, in everyday life, people sigh.’
In 2023, Jan Zalasiewicz was awarded
the Chemistry and Geology prize ‘for explaining why
many scientists like to lick rocks.’
Geologists and palaeontologists lick
rocks as one means of identifying their structure, texture, and mineral content.
Fossils may be discovered because bone is porous and a tongue sticks to it when
it is licked.
The 2025 Aviation prize was awarded
to Francisco Sánchez, Mariana Melcón, Carmi Korine, and Berry Pinshow, ‘for studying whether ingesting alcohol can impair
ability to fly and also their ability to echolocate.’
According to their research, when
fruit-eating bats ingested ethanol, the active intoxicant in alcoholic drinks, they
flew more slowly and their echolocation ability was impaired. Bats tend to
avoid over-ripe fruit, which is rich in ethanol, because it slows reactions and
makes them vulnerable to predation.
A full list can be seen here and is bound to raise at least a
smile and sometimes a guffaw.
Tomoki Kojima led a team including Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima,
Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and
Katsutoshi Kino to win the 2025 Biology prize "for their experiments
to learn whether cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid being bitten by flies.'Three black Japanese cows were used. One had white vertical stripes painted on her, one had black vertical stripes, and one was left unpainted.
'For 30 minutes twice a day, the researchers observed the cows and counted fly-repelling behaviours, such a head throws, leg stamps, and tail flicks. At the end of each observation period, the team took pictures of the cows so they could count the numbers of flies that had landed on the cows' bodies and legs . . . a year later, three other cows were put through the same process.
The results were unequivocal: the cows with painted white stripes had significantly fewer flies on their bodies and lower frequency of fly-swatting behaviours than the others . . . offering a welfare-friendly and chemical-free option to repel pests.'
There are many agile minds and imaginations. I wonder how much
research starts with ‘I wonder . . . ‘
The technology award for 2026 was given for research into ‘Pioneering the use of mosquito proboscises as
high-resolution 3D printing nozzles, a process called Necroprinting.’
An article on Necroprinting can be found here.
