What do bat sex, swearing and slime mold all have in common? Researchers studying those things are all recipients of this year’s Ig Nobel Awards. The prizes, awarded at a ceremony at Harvard University by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine, were started as a spoof of the prestigious annual Nobel Prizes. The Ig Nobels award achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. Here are the 2010 Ig Nobel Award Winners:
Ig Nobel For Medicine: Psychologists Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest at the University of Amsterdam won for their research that showed that breathing difficulties brought on by asthma were relieved by repeated rollercoaster rides.
Ig Nobel for Physics: Lianne Parkin and her team at the University of Otago in New Zealand showed that if people wore their socks on the outside of their shoes, they’d be less likely to slip on icy surfaces.
Ig Nobel for Biology: Gareth Jones at Bristol University and collaborators in China won for showing that female fruitbats that perform oral sex on their mates copulated longer.
Ig Nobel for Peace: Psychologist Richard Stephens and others at Keele University proved that swearing relieves pain.
Ig Nobel for Engineering: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse and others at the Institute of Zoology in London developed a way to collect fluids ejected from whales’ blowholes. Her team attached Petri dishes to small helicopters and flew them above whales.
Ig Nobel for Transportation: Mark Fricker and Dan Bebber at Oxford University used slime mold to model an effective railway network.
Ig Nobel for Management: Alessandro Pluchino and his team at the University of Catania showed that promoting employees at random increases company efficiency.
Ig Nobel for Public Health: Manuel Barbeito at the Industrial Health and Safety Office in Maryland proved that men with beards have a higher potential of being a laboratory hazard.
Ig Nobel for Chemistry: Eric Adams and others at MIT proved that oil and water actually do mix.
Ig Nobel for Economics: Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Magnetar for “creating and promoting new ways to invest money – ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.”
