Ig Nobel Prize

Awarded annually, according to the official site:

The winners have all done things that first make people LAUGH, then make them THINK.

Some of my favorites (go to the link above for full credits and cites):

Physics, 2003 - "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces."

This one's from Australia. Is anyone surprised? Montana residents put your hands down.

Biology, 2003 - for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.

You really find out who your friends are.

Physics, 2002 - University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay.

More beer research, now this is something I can support.

Astrophysics, 2001 - a televangelist and staff, who for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell.

So does Sunday morning television programming.

Peace, 2000 - The British Royal Navy, for ordering its sailors to stop using live cannon shells, and to instead just shout "Bang!"

As opposed to the more aggressive "Boom!"

Chemistry, 1999 - a detective in Japan, for his involvement with S-Check, an infidelity detection spray that wives can apply to their husbands' underwear.

The thrifty version is called superglue.

Peace, 1999 - a South African design for an automobile burglar alarm consisting of a detection circuit and a flamethrower.

I've barely scratched the surface here, go check 'em out. Science doesn't have to be boring, and stuff like this certainly makes me think... about committal papers.

Posted by: Ted at 04:50 AM

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