The 2007 "Ig Nobel" prizes were awarded just about three weeks ago so it's time for your annual update. I will simply list most of the winners and the reason they won, which is still pretty funny stuff.
The "Annals of Improbable Research" website's motto is "Research that makes people laugh and then think." In fact, just reading that page brought several chuckles to my throat. I almost wish I could have been there.
What makes these funny, folks, is that "real" scientists spent precious time and grant money studying and/or creating this stuff. And many of them traveled to Harvard University for the presentation using their own money and resources.
The 2007 IG Nobel Prize Winners
MEDICINE: Awarded to Brian Witcombe of the United Kingdom and Dan Meyer in Tennessee for their penetrating report, "Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects."
PHYSICS: Awarded to L. Mahadevan at Harvard and Enrique Villablanca at the University of Santiago in Chile for studying how sheets become wrinkled.
BIOLOGY: Awarded to Dr. Johanna van Bronswijk in the Netherlands for a patient census of all the mites, insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns, and fungi with whom we share our beds each night.
CHEMISTRY: Awarded to Mayu Yamamoto at the International Medical Center of Japan for developing a method of extracting vanilla fragrance and flavoring from cow dung. Note: Toscanini's Ice Cream in Cambridge dedicated a flavor to this achievement in honor of the award.
LINGUISTICS: Awarded to three scientists at the University of Barcelona for showing that rats can sometimes not tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.
LITERATURE: Awarded to Glenda Browne of Australia for her study of the word "The" and the many problems it causes for anyone trying to put things into alphabetical order.
NUTRITION: Awarded to Brian Wansink at Cornell University for exploring the boundless appetites of human beings by feeding them with a continually refilling "bottomless" bowl of soup.
The "Annals of Improbable Research" website's motto is "Research that makes people laugh and then think." In fact, just reading that page brought several chuckles to my throat. I almost wish I could have been there.
What makes these funny, folks, is that "real" scientists spent precious time and grant money studying and/or creating this stuff. And many of them traveled to Harvard University for the presentation using their own money and resources.
The 2007 IG Nobel Prize Winners
MEDICINE: Awarded to Brian Witcombe of the United Kingdom and Dan Meyer in Tennessee for their penetrating report, "Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects."
PHYSICS: Awarded to L. Mahadevan at Harvard and Enrique Villablanca at the University of Santiago in Chile for studying how sheets become wrinkled.
BIOLOGY: Awarded to Dr. Johanna van Bronswijk in the Netherlands for a patient census of all the mites, insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns, and fungi with whom we share our beds each night.
CHEMISTRY: Awarded to Mayu Yamamoto at the International Medical Center of Japan for developing a method of extracting vanilla fragrance and flavoring from cow dung. Note: Toscanini's Ice Cream in Cambridge dedicated a flavor to this achievement in honor of the award.
LINGUISTICS: Awarded to three scientists at the University of Barcelona for showing that rats can sometimes not tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.
LITERATURE: Awarded to Glenda Browne of Australia for her study of the word "The" and the many problems it causes for anyone trying to put things into alphabetical order.
NUTRITION: Awarded to Brian Wansink at Cornell University for exploring the boundless appetites of human beings by feeding them with a continually refilling "bottomless" bowl of soup.
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