Ig Nobel

 

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.