2023-09-16 11:08:00
No, wearing a white coat doesn’t stop you from having a sense of humor. The 33rd Ig Nobel ceremony (pronounced igue-nobel in English, a play on words with the adjective “ignoble”), which took place on the night of Thursday to Friday in the United States, proved this once again. more.
Since 1990, the Ig Nobels have constituted the supreme award in this often wacky field of “improbable science”, the one which shows that the scientific method can be seriously applied, even to the most extravagant and incongruous questions.
Winning an Ig Nobel is therefore not considered a humiliation, the reward aimed at “first to make you laugh, then to make you think», as the organizers like to say. The recipients are presented with their prize by authentic Nobels – for this 2023 edition, it was the Frenchwoman Esther Duflo, 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, who officiated.
In addition, the winners are duly rewarded financially (on paper, at least), since they receive a note of 10,000 billion old Zimbabwean dollars. Cut which, despite its endless series of zeros, no longer has any value, due to the hyperinflation having hit this currency…
It was the humorous scientific magazine Les Annales de la recherche improbable (Annals of Improbable Research) which presented the ten winners. Anthology.
Stone lickers
The chemistry and geology prize went to Jan Zalasiewicz, geologist at the University of Leicester (England), “for explaining why many scientists like to lick rocks».
The laureate explained that he wrote his study entitled “Eating Fossils” after realizing that “18th century geologists used the taste of stones to better identify them».
Repeat words endlessly
In literature, an international team was rewarded “for the study of the sensations experienced by people repeating the same word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times».
With the conclusion that this repetition made something familiar singular, and thus made it possible to achieve a state of “never seen”, and not “already seen”.
Reanimate spiders into robots
For the mechanical engineering prize, an American team “resuscitated» dead tarantulas to use their legs as pincers. With a supporting video showing dead spiders whose legs opened before grabbing a small object.
“Necrobotics” work involves using animal parts in robots, explained researchers at Rice University in Houston (United States).
Toilets for fecal analysis
Seung-min Park, at the American University of Stanford, distinguished himself with the public health prize for toilets capable of rapidly analyzing stools. The “Stanford toilet bowl” even has a “anal print», capable of recognizing which individual the examined orifice belongs to, a bit like facial recognition software does for smartphones.
Verlan speakers
The Ig-Nobel of Communication went to research on people who can speak backwards quickly. The recipients accepted their prize in verlan.
The economist Esther Duflo, winner of the (real) Nobel in economics, suggested that researchers look into this very widespread practice in France.
Cadaveric hair
In medicine, researchers were distinguished for studying the number of hairs in the nostrils of cadavers. The figures vary from one deceased to another, but on average the left nostril contains 120 hairs compared to 112 for the right one.
An electric taste
The Japanese Hiromi Nakamura and Homei Miyashita distinguished themselves in the Nutrition category thanks to the development of electrified chopsticks and straws which enhance the taste of food and drinks.
«This increases the saltiness of the food.said Homei Miyashita during the awards ceremony.
Boredom that bores
Teachers will have paid particular attention to the Education Prize awarded to researchers studying the effect they can have on their students if they appear bored.
«We found that if students thought their teachers were bored while teaching, then they were even more bored.», announced the winner Christian Chan in a tired tone.
Twisted neck
How many people passing by on a street will look up if they see other people craning their necks to look skyward? This is the subject of a study by American researchers who won the Ig-Nobel in psychology.
Conclusion: the more people there are looking up, the more passers-by will imitate them.
Sex and anchovies
The Ig-Nobel in physics rewarded work seeking to measure whether “the mixing of ocean waters is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies». «I think there’s a consensus that it doesn’t matter.», to «regretté» Bieito Fernandez Castro, l’un des lauréats.
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