Ig Nobel Prize

Awarded annually, according to the official site:

The winners have all done things that first make people LAUGH, then make them THINK.

Some of my favorites (go to the link above for full credits and cites):

Physics, 2003 - "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces."

This one's from Australia. Is anyone surprised? Montana residents put your hands down.

Biology, 2003 - for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.

You really find out who your friends are.

Physics, 2002 - University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay.

More beer research, now this is something I can support.

Astrophysics, 2001 - a televangelist and staff, who for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell.

So does Sunday morning television programming.

Peace, 2000 - The British Royal Navy, for ordering its sailors to stop using live cannon shells, and to instead just shout "Bang!"

As opposed to the more aggressive "Boom!"

Chemistry, 1999 - a detective in Japan, for his involvement with S-Check, an infidelity detection spray that wives can apply to their husbands' underwear.

The thrifty version is called superglue.

Peace, 1999 - a South African design for an automobile burglar alarm consisting of a detection circuit and a flamethrower.

I've barely scratched the surface here, go check 'em out. Science doesn't have to be boring, and stuff like this certainly makes me think... about committal papers.

Posted by Ted at March 2, 2004 04:50 AM | TrackBack