The Hetoli scientific prize was awarded this year, among other things, to studies that examined why we swear while driving and why we don't read device operating instructions
In about two weeks, we will know who will be the brides and grooms of the Nobel Prize for 2018. Some of the people who will not receive this honor will be able to take solace in the fact that they at least won the Ig Nobel - the prestigious prize awarded yesterday for the 28th time in a very impressive ceremony at Harvard University.
The Ig Nobel, a name that alludes to the much more prestigious prize but is also taken from the English word ignoble, "despicable", is an initiative of the humorous science newspaper Annals of Improbable Research - the expression for improbable research. The award is given to studies that "first make you laugh and then make you think" - studies that are often completely serious and can even have significant consequences, but at least on first hearing, they sound funny or ridiculous. The prizes are awarded in ten fields, which change from year to year, some of which are the same as the fields of the Nobel Prizes and some of which, apparently, are determined by the funniest research that the judges could find.
The whole event is conducted in a spirit of nonsense, but that does not mean that the organizers of the ceremony do not take it seriously. Every year the ceremony is honored by the presence of Nobel laureates, and this year they included Nobel laureate in economics (2007) Eric Maskin, Nobel laureate in physics (2001) Wolfgang Ketterle, and also Michael Rosbash, who won the Nobel Prize for medicine last year. Most of the winners also accept the joke in a good spirit, come to receive the award and give a speech. If they take too long with their speech, "Miss Sweetie Pooh", a little girl, comes on stage and tells them "stop, you're boring me".
The ceremony opened, according to tradition, by throwing paper airplanes on the stage. After that, the moderator announced that the theme of this year's ceremony is "the heart". Therefore, the winners received a colorful plastic figurine in the shape of a heart and a "hearty handshake" from another Nobel laureate, Oliver Hart (Hart, sounds like the word "heart" in English). In keeping with the theme, the audience made sure to make a sound every time the word "heart" was mentioned on stage. The winners also receive a handsome cash prize: ten trillion dollars! But it is an old 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note, which is worthless today. On the stage stood the whole evening, for no apparent reason, two people in minimal clothing, their whole bodies painted silver, and they shine a flashlight on what is happening on the stage, which is already beautifully lit.
Roller coaster, flies and rock
The Medicine Award went to Mark Mitchell and David Worthinger, who found a unique way to get rid of kidney stones: a ride on a roller coaster. Wortinger spoke and said the credit actually goes to one of his patients, who discovered that his kidney stones had been dislodged during a family visit to Disney World. He arrived ready for the ceremony, and when Miss Sweetie Pooh announced that his time was up, he pulled out gifts and tried to bribe her.
The prize in anthropology was awarded to Thomas Persson, Gabriela-Alina Saucius and Elaine Madsen, who showed, with the help of observations in zoos, that chimpanzees imitate humans as often, and with the same success, as humans imitate chimpanzees. "The two species of great apes imitate in about ten percent of the cases" they said in their speech. The prize in biology was won by a large group of researchers: Paul Bacher, Sebastian Leverton, Erica Wallin, Eric Handenström, Philippe Bourreau-Achbari, Marie Bengtsson, Walker Joerger and Peter Weitzgel. They showed that wine experts are able to detect the presence of a single fly in a glass of wine, just by the smell of the pheromones it secretes. Beyond the matter of wine, the study indicates that humans are sensitive to the pheromones of flies - an interesting and somewhat strange discovery. To demonstrate, the researchers brought wine that supposedly had a fly in it and let some people on stage taste it. One of them spat the wine out of his mouth, and the moderator declared that it was immediately obvious that he had the most experience in researching fruit flies. The prize in chemistry was awarded to researchers Paula Romeu and Adelia Alarcao, who tested how effective human saliva is in cleaning dirty surfaces. They were the only ones who could not make it to the ceremony, but sent a videotaped speech. The curator of the Harvard Art Museum took the stage with a "Van Gogh painting" to perform a demonstration.
Instructions for self-use
The scientific education award was won by Eriko Horiuchi, for an article called "Colonoscopy in Yeshiva: lessons learned from self-colonoscopy". He performed the test where a camera is inserted into the colon four times, to find the best position for the subjects. Horiuchi took the stage with the device used for the research and was about to start the demonstration, but luckily (both for him and mostly for the audience) Miss Sweetie Pooh stopped him before he got to the really interesting part.
The literature prize was won by Thea Blackler, Rafael Gomez, and Zena Popovic and Helen Thompson, who discovered that most people who use complicated products do not read the instructions. Their article was brilliantly titled "Life's too short to RTFM" (an acronym for "read the fucking instructions"). The researcher who came to receive the award went on stage with a dress that had "RTFM" written on it in large letters. She claimed that people avoided reading instructions even when they knew they were not using the device correctly and that reading the instructions for use would probably solve this. "So how do you fix it? You can read my book, and it will teach you" she finished her speech.
The nutrition award was won by James Cole, who decided to test the caloric value of a diet based on human flesh. It turns out, if you were wondering, that this value is lower than the caloric value of a menu based on chicken or beef. Why would anyone want to know such a thing? The reason is historical research. The results of the study show that in places and times where cannibalism was accepted, the reasons were most likely cultural, and not due to a nutritional need. Cole said in his speech that he likes research "that I can really sink my teeth into". In honor of this award, people came on stage who brought a "nutritious delicacy" to the newlyweds of the Nobel Prize, but a "judge" with a flag that says NSFW ("not suitable for work", a title used to mark sexual or violent content on the Internet) stopped them.
Stamp and damage
A large group won the Ig Nobel for Peace again: Francisco Alonzo, Cristina Esteban, Andrea Serga, Maria-Louisa Bolster, Jamie Sanmartin, Constanza Clatude and Beatrice Ellamer. They examined the frequency, motives and effect of yelling and cursing while driving. The researcher who came up to give a speech reminded the audience that cars are not only used for driving but also for making love, and called to support lovers. However, when Miss Sweetie Pooh came on stage to stop him, he yelled at her and declared that as the winner of the Peace Prize he could shoot her.
The prize in the field of fertility research was won by John Barry, Bruce Blank and Michel Boyleau, who used stamps to check if men had an erection during the night. This is actually a very important question for men who have difficulty having sex, because if they get an erection during sleep it indicates that they do not have a medical problem that prevents them from doing so.
In the study, the test was done by wrapping the penis in a ring of stamps, so that the stamps are torn when erect. While the researchers were speaking, stamps were shown behind them with images of the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, erupting volcanoes and geysers, rockets taking off, unicorns, mushrooms, and finally - Freud's picture. Here, too, a demonstration was made, when the place of the genitals was taken by balloons inflated by three particularly amused female researchers. "If you have comments, don't say them," asked the moderator.
One of the winners who tested whether giving voodoo dolls to employees is an effective way to deal with abusive managers (Photo: AP)
And finally, the Ig Nobel in economics was awarded to Lindy Liang, Douglas Brown, Huywen Lien, Samuel Banid, Lance Ferris and Lisa Kipping, who tested whether giving employees voodoo dolls was an effective means of dealing with abusive managers. The researchers explained that the dolls gave the workers the feeling that they had "paid back" to their bosses and that justice had been done. Liang spoke and asked to thank her former boss, who stood by her side as one of the winners, for teaching her everything she knows about abusive bosses. She also thanked her cats for the emotional support they provided her.
Science 24/7
Between one award and another there were artistic pieces, such as an opera in four parts called "The Broken Heart", and its singers are cardiologists or engaged in medical research. As you can of course understand from the name, the story is about children who decide to build a heart, break it and then mend it. The concluding words of the opera were: "Further studies must be carried out", the concluding sentence in many scientific articles.
In addition, researchers came on stage who summarized their research in 24 seconds and then in just seven words, for example: "Some animals are very, very, very, black" or "Viruses can change really quickly. They are scary."
The Ig Nobel is far from being the main scientific event of the year, but in its own way it is important - if only to show that science can be fun, funny and silly, and that scientists, even Nobel Prize winners, don't always have to take themselves seriously. "I want to end with the following words" said the host at the end of the evening. "If you didn't win the Ig Nobel, and especially if you did - I wish you greater success next year."
Dr. Yonat Ashhar, reporter on the website of the Davidson Institute for Science Education. Dr. Einat Shaprincek assisted in the preparation of the article
Report from the conference in English
More on the subject on the science website
