| 'Gay bomb' scoops Ig Nobel award | ||
Other winners included work on treating hamster jetlag with impotency drugs, extracting vanilla from cow dung, and the side-effects of sword swallowing. The awards, founded in 1991, mark achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think". The prize ceremony took place at Harvard University, US. Genuine Nobel Laureates handed out the much-coveted awards to the winners, who took away no cash, but instead received a handmade prize, a certificate, and, of course, the glory of such an illustrious win. Sword effects Dan Meyer, executive director of Sword Swallowing Association International and an author of the British Medical Journal paper Sword Swallowing and its Side-Effects, said: "I was surprised and extremely honoured when I found out I was not only nominated for an Ig Nobel prize but that I had won it. I couldn't believe it." He told the BBC News website that the study revealed that when professional sword swallowers ingested a single sword very carefully, it did not do much harm, but swallowing many swords, strangely shaped blades, or being distracted when swallowing, could cause injury. The findings also suggested that sword swallowers should not swallow swords if they already had a sore throat, he said. Unfortunately, said the organisers, nobody from the US military who carried out the research on chemicals that could prompt homosexual dalliances amongst rival troops (a research project called Harassing, Annoying and "Bad Guy" Identifying Chemicals) attended the ceremony because the study's authors could not be tracked down. Real research The Ig Nobel Prizes were created by the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), a science magazine.
The awards, now in their 17th year, are intended to "celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative - and spur people's interest in science, medicine and technology". Marc Abrahams, the editor of AIR, told the BBC News website: "When I became the editor of a science magazine, suddenly I was meeting all kinds of people who had done things that were hard to describe, and for the most part, nobody had ever heard of. "For some of them, it seemed a great shame that nobody would give them any kind of recognition, and that was what really led to the birth of the Ig Nobels." Like their more sober counterpart, the Nobel Prizes, the Ig Nobels are split into several categories and all research is real and published. 2007 Ig Nobel Winners Medicine - Brain Witcombe, of Gloucestershire Royal NHS Foundation Trust, UK, and Dan Meyer for their probing work on the health consequences of swallowing a sword. Physics - A US-Chile team who ironed out the problem of how sheets become wrinkled. Biology - Dr Johanna van Bronswijk of the Netherlands for carrying out a creepy crawly census of all of the mites, insects, spiders, ferns and fungi that share our beds. Chemistry - Mayu Yamamoto, from Japan, for developing a method to extract vanilla fragrance and flavouring from cow dung. Linguistics - A University of Barcelona team for showing that rats are unable to tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and somebody speaking Dutch backwards. Literature - Glenda Browne of Blue Mountains, Australia, for her study of the word "the", and how it can flummox those trying to put things into alphabetical order. Peace - The US Air Force Wright Laboratory for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among enemy troops. Nutrition - Brian Wansink of Cornell University for investigating the limits of human appetite by feeding volunteers a self-refilling, "bottomless" bowl of soup. Economics - Kuo Cheng Hsieh of Taiwan for patenting a device that can catch bank robbers by dropping a net over them. Aviation - A National University of Quilmes, Argentina, team for discovering that impotency drugs can help hamsters to recover from jet lag. | ||
I WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED IT!
by Dansk 7 Replies latest jw friends
-
Dansk
-
Dansk
I found this hilarious:
Peace - The US Air Force Wright Laboratory for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among enemy troops.
Well, if it saves the life of just one soldier it will be worth it - providing the behaviour is reversible, of course!
Ian
-
dedpoet
Marc Abrahams, the editor of AIR, told the BBC News website: "When I became the editor of a science magazine, suddenly I was meeting all kinds of people who had done things that were hard to describe, and for the most part, nobody had ever heard of.
That's a shame. Think of the obvious benefits to mankind
now we know that rats can't tell the difference between
backwards Japanese and backwards Dutch or how sheets
become wrinkled. -
yknot
Physics - A US-Chile team who ironed out the problem of how sheets become wrinkled.
Wow and under Physics too. This will lead to the better "no wrinkle" sheets, this will change the WORLD!
TY for post Dansk you made my day start with a laugh!
-
greendawn
The one I found really creepy is the extraction of vanila fragrance from cow dung. Why would anyone want to do that when there is so much vanila and the cheap vanillin (vanilla flavour imitation) in the world?
I suppose it's just an intellectual challenge. -
RollerDave
Physics - A US-Chile team who ironed out the problem of how sheets become wrinkled.
"ok, we tested vigorous sex, what? the lens cap was on? We've got to re-run the test for the fifteenth time? I get to be on top this time!"
Wonder what the science-chicks look like in Chile.
RD
-
Gregor
Now if only they could extract a substitute for cow shite from vanilla beans.
-
AWAKE&WATCHING
I was also very bothered by the vanilla extracting experiment - up until now it has been my favorite smell.
The Peace award was amazing, I mean, are you kidding me? What's the deal, not only will they turn into homosexuals, they will turn into lusty homosexuals that won't be able to control themselves long enough to fight? All of this incredible research is being done right here in my home state. I am so proud.
Good find, I love weird news.
A study on how to relieve jetlag in hamsters won one of the prizes
The Ig Nobels celebrate the unusual side of research