Liquid cats, disgust for cheese and reversed genitalia
Ig Nobel Prizes awarded
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
[2] Milo A. Puhan, Alex Suarez, Christian Lo Cascio, Alfred Zahn, Markus Heitz and Otto Braendli; "Didgeridoo Playing as Alternative Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome: Randomised Controlled Trial"; BMJ; 2006
[3] James A. Heathcote; "Why Do Old Men Have Big Ears?"; BMJ; 1995
[4] Kazunori Yoshizawa, Rodrigo L. Ferreira, Yoshitaka Kamimura, Charles Lienhard; "Female Penis, Male Vagina and Their Correlated Evolution in a Cave Insect"; Current Biology; 2014
[5] Jiwon Han; "A Study on the Coffee Spilling Phenomena in the Low Impulse Regime"; Achievements in Life Sciences; 2016
[6] Fernanda Ito, Enrico Bernard, and Rodrigo A. Torres; "What is for Dinner? First Report of Human Blood in the Diet of the Hairy-Legged Vampire Bat Diphylla ecaudata"; Acta Chiropterologica; 2016
[7] Jean-Pierre Royet, David Meunier, Nicolas Torquet, Anne-Marie Mouly and Tao Jiang; "The Neural Bases of Disgust for Cheese: An fMRI Study"; Front. Hum. Neurosci.; 2016
[8] Matteo Martini, Ilaria Bufalari, Maria Antonietta Stazi, Salvatore Maria Aglioti; "Is That Me or My Twin? Lack of Self-Face Recognition Advantage in Identical Twins"; PLOS One; 2015
[9] Marisa López-Teijón, Álex García-Faura, and Alberto Prats-Galino; "Fetal Facial Expression in Response to Intravaginal Music Emission"; Ultrasound; 2015
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