The 2005 Igs

[Skye]

The 2005 Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on th 6th of October in a ceremony at Harvard University. There were some pure gold winners, my favorite was for Literature.

 

The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them.

 

There were a few Australian winners (yay!), such as for physics, showing that pitch really does drip:

 

John Mainstone and the late Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting an experiment that began in the year 1927 -- in which a glob of congealed black tar has been slowly, slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every nine years.

REFERENCE: "The Pitch Drop Experiment," R. Edgeworth, B.J. Dalton and T. Parnell, European Journal of Physics, 1984, pp. 198-200.

 

...and for Biology, some really exhaustive work on frog odours:

Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and the University of Toronto, Canada and the Firmenich perfume company, Geneva, Switzerland, and ChemComm Enterprises, Archamps, France; Craig Williams of James Cook University and the University of South Australia; Michael Tyler of the University of Adelaide; Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide; and Yoji Hayasaka of the Australian Wine Research Institute; for painstakingly smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors produced by 131 different species of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed.

REFERENCE: "A Survey of Frog Odorous Secretions, Their Possible Functions and Phylogenetic Significance," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Craig R. Williams, Michael J. Tyler, and Brian D. Williams, Applied Herpetology, vol. 2, no. 1-2, February 1, 2004, pp. 47-82.

REFERENCE: "Chemical and Olfactory Characterization of Odorous Compounds and Their Precursors in the Parotoid Gland Secretion of the Green Tree Frog, Litoria caerulea," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Michael J. Tyler, Brian D. Williams, and Yoji Hayasaka, Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 29, no. 9, September 2003.

Unfortunately the kiwis were given an award, probably out of sympathy, for 'Agricultural History':

 

James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his scholarly study, "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers."

REFERENCE: "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers: Reflections on an Aspect of Technological Change in New Zealand Dairy-Farming between the World Wars," James Watson, Agricultural History, vol. 78, no. 3, Summer 2004, pp. 346-60.

 

I thought the Economics award was hilarious too, bringing cartoons to life:

Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.

 

Almost matching the longevity of the pitch experiment, and showing the kind of commitment to science that borders on the insane, was a Japanese guy who photographed every meal he ate for the last 34 years:

 

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats of Tokyo, Japan, for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting).

 

No, wait that guy is really just crazy.

 

There was some controversy that ElBaradei won the Nobel peace prize, but the Ig Nobel Peace prize didn't even make sense. Maybe that's part of the wacky zanyness of it all.

Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie "Star Wars."

REFERENCE: "Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects," F.C. Rind and P.J. Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-66.

 

How would you like to have your genitals removed? Think about how dogs feel. This guy did:

 

Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles -- artificial replacement testicles for dogs, which are available in three sizes, and three degrees of firmness.

REFERENCES: US Patent #5868140, and the book Going Going NUTS!, by Gregg A. Miller, PublishAmerica, 2004, ISBN 1413753167.

I'd just like to get the large ones fitted to a Chihuahua, 'it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the..' Yeah.

 

And finally, two pieces of research that both could fit into fluid dynamics, the first is funny:

Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water?

REFERENCE: "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?" American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, Brian Gettelfinger and E. L. Cussler, vol. 50, no. 11, October 2004, pp. 2646-7.

 

The second is just disturbing:

 

Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen, Germany and the University of Oulu , Finland; and Jozsef Gal of Loránd Eötvös University, Hungary, for using basic principles of physics to calculate the pressure that builds up inside a penguin, as detailed in their report "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defaecation."

PUBLISHED IN: Polar Biology, vol. 27, 2003, pp. 56-8.

[ecoli]

 

There were a few Australian winners (yay!)' date=' such as for physics, showing that pitch really does drip:

 

[i']John Mainstone and the late Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting an experiment that began in the year 1927 -- in which a glob of congealed black tar has been slowly, slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every nine years.

REFERENCE: "The Pitch Drop Experiment," R. Edgeworth, B.J. Dalton and T. Parnell, European Journal of Physics, 1984, pp. 198-200.[/i]

 

oh yeah, I've heard of this one... didn't know they one an IgNobel, though. Good for them!

[Martin]

there were a couple from back in 2003 that I thought esp. interesting

they were in the biology/animal behavior department, so I started a thread in biology

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?p=215023#post215023

 

this was about Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans

and also the case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard Duck

 

just saw your thread on the 2005 prizes

definitely some very interesting human achievements, and research, being honored.

the advance in alarm clock technology seems especially important

[Skye]

Yeah I could use that alarm clock, I sometimes turn mine off in my asleep if it's within reach. Same with the phone, I pick it up too while asleep. I don't say anything though.

[5614]

Same with the phone, I pick it up too while asleep

Shame you don't sleep talk or snore loudly, that'd be funny for the person on the other end of the line!

 

A few of the awards were the newspaper a few days ago, they're kind weird & funny!