Campus & Community

Ig Nobel winners

2 min read
Ig Nobel
Two minor domos arrange a toilet for an illustration for the Public Health prize Photos by Marc Halevi
  • The Biology Prize, awarded for a report “On the Palatability of Some Dry-Season Tadpoles From Costa Rica.” Winner Richard Wassersug of Dalhousie University clarified that while the tadpoles were eaten to gauge palatability, they were neither dried nor seasoned.
  • The Chemistry Prize, awarded for a discovery that romantic love may be indistinguishable from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, biochemically speaking, that is.The Physics Prize, for experiments using magnets to levitate both a frog and a sumo wrestler.
  • The Psychology Prize, for a report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.”The Literature Prize, for a book “Living on Light,” which explains that people may eat food, but they really don’t need it.
  • The Economics Prize, awarded the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, “for bringing efficiency and steady growth to the mass-marriage industry.”

    Photo of Jim Bredt and Isabelle Rosenberg
    Human spotlights Jim Bredt and Isabelle Rosenberg were two of the night’s highlights.
  • The Medicine Prize, for a report titled, “Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal.” Researcher Pek van Andel received a standing ovation for his work.
  • The Computer Science Prize, awarded for the development of software that detects when a cat is walking across your keyboard.
  • The Peace Prize, given to the British Navy for ordering sailors to shout “Bang!” instead of using live ammunition.
  • The Public Health Prize, awarded for a report titled “The Collapse of Toilets in Glasgow.”