BOSTON. A Japanese research team that painted zebra-like stripes on cows to see if it reduced fly bites was among this year’s winners of the Ig Nobel Prize, an award recognizing unusual scientific achievements that make people laugh before they think.
The 35th annual ceremony, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, took place Thursday night at Boston University. Winners received a handmade model of a human stomach and a single hand wipe instead of cash prizes.
“When I did this experiment, I hoped that I would win the Ig Nobel. It’s my dream. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable,” said Tomoki Kojima, whose team spray-painted Japanese beef cows with white stripes. The cows attracted fewer flies and appeared less bothered, although Kojima admitted large-scale application would be difficult.
Other winners included African and European researchers who studied lizards’ pizza preferences, European scientists who found that alcohol can sometimes improve foreign language speaking ability, and a researcher who examined fingernail growth for decades.
“Every great discovery ever, at first glance seemed screwy and laughable,” said Marc Abrahams, editor of the magazine and master of ceremonies. “The same is true of every worthless discovery. The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate ALL these discoveries, because at the very first glance, who really knows?”
As part of the lighthearted event, audience members threw paper airplanes at the stage, Nobel laureates read speeches on behalf of absent winners, and a mini-opera about gastroenterologists entertained the crowd.
Among the more colorful awards were studies from Colombia on alcohol’s impact on bats, from India on foul-smelling shoes, and from the United States and Israel on whether eating Teflon increases food volume. A multinational team also explored the physics of pasta sauce, with researchers accepting the award dressed as a cook and a ball of mozzarella.
Francisco Sanchez, part of the Colombian team studying bats, noted the lighter side of the honor: “It’s a great honor for us. It’s really good. You can see that scientists are not really square and super serious and can have some fun while showing interesting science.”
The Ig Nobels, held just weeks before the Nobel Prizes are announced, continue to spotlight unconventional but thought-provoking research from around the globe.
Paraluman P. Funtanilla
Paraluman P. Funtanilla is Tutubi News Magazine's Marketing Specialist and is a Contributing Editor. She finished her degree in Communication Arts in De La Salle Lipa. She has worked as a Digital Marketer for start-up businesses and small business spaces for the past two years. She has earned certificates from Coursera on Brand Management: Aligning Business Brand and Behavior and Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content. She also worked with Asia Express Romania TV Show.
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
