Improbable Research: science that makes you laugh and think
Science is serious business. If mixing science with humor sounds to you like an experiment doomed to fail, tune out immediately: this article will damage your brain with Improbable Research.
The IgNobel Prizes are world-renowned awards for silly science that makes you laugh at first and then, importantly, think. Improbable Research awards ten IgNobel Prizes annually at a ceremony honoured by several real Nobel laureates. In fact, the prizes are handed to the winners by the Nobel laureates.
Improbable Research is an organization, or more appropriately “a vast, happy, open conspiracy of many volunteers” as they put it on their website, devoted to inspiring curiosity towards science. The prizes, usually awarded to exceptionally silly discoveries, are meant to encourage creativity, imagination and interest in science and technology through humor and fun.
In addition to the IgNobel Prizes, the organization publishes a magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, and hosts the absurd Luxuriant Flowing Hair Clubs for Scientists.
IgNoble winners of 2013
The winners of the 2013 IgNobel Prize were announced on September 12th by Improbable Research at Harvard, Cambridge MA.
The physics prize was given to a study where the researchers discovered that humans could run on the surface of water under conditions of reduced gravity, for example, on the Moon.
The study combined the hydrodynamic modeling of basilisk lizards and humans and laboratory testing in a low-gravity simulator. It appears that the only hindrance to practical applications is that there are no people or ponds on the Moon. The study can be openly accessed through PLoS ONE vol. 7, no. 7, 2012.
On the other hand, the prize for safety engineering could have interesting practical applications as it was awarded to the inventors of an “anti-hijacking system for aircraft”. The victorious patent (US patent #3811643) describes how to eliminate plane hijackers by a system involving sliding trap doors, encapsulation of the villain in a neat package (complete with parachute) and ejecting the package from the plane.
Skiing goggles are one strategy to protect yourself against watering eyes while cutting onions. Photo: Rasmus Knutsson /Flickr.com (Creative Commons).
The chemistry prize was awarded to a group of scientists for their study that was published in Nature, the prestigious journal for top-level, no nonsense science. Ever cut onions and ended up with stinging and watering eyes? The awarded chemistry research revealed a complicated biochemical mechanism behind the annoying onion phenomenon.
REFERENCE: “Plant Biochemistry: An Onion Enzyme that Makes the Eyes Water”, S. Imai, N. Tsuge, M. Tomotake, Y. Nagatome, H. Sawada, T. Nagata and H. Kumagai, Nature, vol. 419, no. 6908, October 2002, p. 685.
Dung beetles rely on astronomical orientation to find their way home Photo: minds-eye (Creative Commons).
A joint prize for biology and astronomy was rewarded to a study on the astronomical hobbies of dung beetles. Apparently, dung beetles can use the night skies to navigate. If lost, they can find their way home by observing the Milky Way. The study was published online in Current Biology on January 24th 2013.
The IgNobel committee has obviously been paying attention to current events around the World as well as science: the IgNobel Peace Prize was shared between the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, for criminalizing public applause, and the Belarus police forces, for arresting a one-armed man for applauding. Apparently neither of the winners was present to receive the prize.
As the cherry on top, a special top-secret NSA courtesy feed was webcast from the ceremony, dedicated to security agencies around the World.
Maija Pollari is a science journalist whose background is in molecular biology research. She enjoys flamenco dancing, reading, and roleplaying adventures.