Last week , winner of the Ig Nobel prizes for humourous but thought - provoke research were honored in a ceremonial at Harvard . Winners included the inventors of a distant - control whirlybird whale snot collector , and researchers documenting bat fellatio .
exposure byrichard_b , of Neil Gaiman and other presenters test an “ pinch brassiere ” ( created by a former Ig Nobel victor ) that converts into a grimace mask .
Here is a full list of the winners , whose work was praise in a strange annual observance headline by Annals of Improbable Research publisher Marc Abrahams and featuring special guests like Neil Gaiman , as well as five actual Nobel swag winners .
ENGINEERING PRIZE
Karina Acevedo - Whitehouse and Agnes Rocha - Gosselin of the Zoological Society of London , UK , and Diane Gendron of Instituto Politecnico Nacional , Baja California Sur , Mexico , for hone a method to collect giant snot , using a outside - control eggbeater .
extension : “ A Novel Non - Invasive Tool for Disease Surveillance of Free - drift Whales and Its relevancy to Conservation Programs , ” Karina Acevedo - Whitehouse , Agnes Rocha - Gosselin and Diane Gendron , Animal Conservation , vol . 13 , no . 2 , April 2010 , pp . 217 - 25 . The authors are at Zoological Society of London and Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas , Instituto Politécnico Nacional , Baja California Sur , Mexico .
MEDICINE PRIZE
Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam , The Netherlands , and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University , The Netherlands , for discovering that symptoms of asthma attack can be treated with a roller - coaster drive .
REFERENCE : “ Rollercoaster Asthma : When Positive Emotional Stress Interferes with Dyspnea Perception , ” Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest , Behaviour Research and Therapy , vol . 45 , 2006 , pp . 977–87 .
shipping PLANNING PRIZE
Toshiyuki Nakagaki , Atsushi Tero , Seiji Takagi , Tetsu Saigusa , Kentaro Ito , Kenji Yumiki , Ryo Kobayashi of Japan , and Dan Bebber , Mark Fricker of the UK , for using slime mould to limit the optimum routes for railroad line tracks .
REFERENCE : “ Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive connection Design , ” Atsushi Tero , Seiji Takagi , Tetsu Saigusa , Kentaro Ito , Dan P. Bebber , Mark D. Fricker , Kenji Yumiki , Ryo Kobayashi , Toshiyuki Nakagaki , Science , Vol . 327 . no . 5964 , January 22 , 2010 , pp . 439 - 42 .
PHYSICS PRIZE
Lianne Parkin , Sheila Williams , and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago , New Zealand , for demonstrating that , on polar footpath in wintertime , people dislocate and go down less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes .
cite : “ Preventing Winter Falls : A Randomised Controlled Trial of a Novel Intervention , ” Lianne Parkin , Sheila Williams , and Patricia Priest , New Zealand Medical Journal . vol . 122 , no , 1298 , July 3 , 2009 , pp . 31 - 8 .
PEACE PRIZE
Richard Stephens , John Atkins , and Andrew Kingston of Keele University , UK , for confirming the wide defy belief that swearing relieves pain .
denotation : “ Swearing as a Response to Pain , ” Richard Stephens , John Atkins , and Andrew Kingston , Neuroreport , vol . 20 , no . 12 , 2009 , pp . 1056 - 60 .
PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE
Manuel Barbeito , Charles Mathews , and Larry Taylor of the Industrial Health and Safety Office , Fort Detrick , Maryland , USA , for mold by experimentation that bug cleave to bewhiskered scientists .
REFERENCE : “ Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men , ” Manuel S. Barbeito , Charles T. Mathews , and Larry A. Taylor , Applied Microbiology , vol . 15 , no . 4 , July 1967 , pp . 899–906 .
ECONOMICS PRIZE
The executives and directors of Goldman Sachs , AIG , Lehman Brothers , Bear Stearns , Merrill Lynch , and Magnetar for create and promoting Modern way to invest money – way that maximise fiscal profit and minimize fiscal risk for the world saving , or for a portion thereof .
CHEMISTRY PRIZE
Eric Adams of MIT , Scott Socolofsky of Texas A&M University , Stephen Masutani of the University of Hawaii , and BP [ British Petroleum ] , for disproving the quondam notion that vegetable oil and water do n’t merge .
REFERENCE : “ Review of Deep Oil tumble Modeling Activity Supported by the Deep Spill JIP and Offshore Operator ’s Committee . Final Report , ” Eric Adams and Scott Socolofsky , 2005 .
MANAGEMENT PRIZE
Alessandro Pluchino , Andrea Rapisarda , and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania , Italy , for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random .
REFERENCE : “ The Peter Principle revisit : A Computational Study , ” Alessandro Pluchino , Andrea Rapisarda , and Cesare Garofalo , Physica A , vol . 389 , no . 3 , February 2010 , pp . 467 - 72 .
BIOLOGY PRIZE
Libiao Zhang , Min Tan , Guangjian Zhu , Jianping Ye , Tiyu Hong , Shanyi Zhou , and Shuyi Zhang of China , and Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol , UK , for scientifically documenting fellatio in yield at-bat .
REFERENCE : “ fellation by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time , ” Min Tan , Gareth Jones , Guangjian Zhu , Jianping Ye , Tiyu Hong , Shanyi Zhou , Shuyi Zhang and Libiao Zhang , PLoS ONE , vol . 4 , no . 10 , e7595 .
find out more about the Ig Nobels via theAnnals of tall Research .
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