Liquid cats, disgust for cheese and reversed genitalia

Ig Nobel Prizes awarded

18-Sep-2017 - USA

This year's ceremony of the Ig Nobel Prize awards again shows how precious some areas of research can be. We had insights into research, which is not common, applicable or believable. Despite earlier awards all winners received the prize personally or send video messages to claim their interest. Here is a list of the awarded researchers and their topics:

collage by LUMITOS GmbH, picture source: pixabay.com

Physics Prize

France, Singapore, USA

  • You ever wondered how cats can act as liquid? Marc-Antoine Fardin received this prize for his ground breaking research of an internet phenomenon. He studied the rheology of cats [1].

Peace Prize

Switzerland, Canada, The Netherlands, USA

  • Sleepness nights because of your bed neighbor? Researchers demonstrated that the sound of a didgeridoo is effective against sleep apnoe and snoring.[2]

Anatomy Prize

United Kingdom

  • Grandfather, why do you have so big ears? James Heathcote received the prize for his medical investigation on the topic of big eared old men.[3]

Biology Prize

Japan, Brazil, Switzerland

  • Well, interesting!? Researchers discovered a species of cave insects where the genitalia of male and female individuals where reversed.[4]

Fluid Dynamics Prize

South Korea, USA

  • Need a new shirt? Jiwon Han contribution to scientific research is well known to many of us. He looked into the behavior of coffee spilling, when moving backwards.[5]

Nutrition Prize

Brazil, Canada, Spain

  • Feared of Lord Dracula? Terrifying results of a study that certain vampire bat guts contained human blood.[6]

Medicine Prize

France, United Kingdom

  • Ever sat in front of a stinky cheese? Researchers used functional MRI to investigate the reaction of disgust to cheese.[7]

Cognition Prize

Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

  • You cannot distinguish between twins? They cannot too! Researchers found that many identical twins are not able to tell them apart visually.[8]

Obstetrics Prize

Spain

  • Did you play(ed) music to your unborn offspring? Spanish scientist found that playing music in the "inside" leads to a greater fetal response.[9]

Original publication

[1] Marc-Antoine Fardin; "On the Rheology of Cats"; Rheology Bulletin; 2014

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