Liquid cats, disgust for cheese and reversed genitalia
Ig Nobel Prizes awarded
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