The Ig Nobel Prizes remix laughter and rigor

2013/09/13 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Sariak

The Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded to research that cannot be repeated or should not be repeated. Organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, yesterday took place the awards ceremony. In total, ten prizes were awarded, one for each area.

For example, the prize in the field of psychology has had a great impact, perhaps because more than one has joined the conclusion of the research. Award winners have shown that you feel more attractive than when you are without getting drunk under the effects of alcohol. According to them, it was already known that by drinking others become more attractive to one, but the effect on oneself was not investigated. In addition, they have seen that the more you drink, the more attractive you see. And the effect is the same if we take a placebo without alcohol!

Physics award-winning research is more curious: researchers have found that some people could run on a lake... if the lake were on the moon.

However, the chemistry is more terrible: they have studied why onions cause tears and have discovered that the explanation is much more complicated than they expected.

Also in the field of archaeology they have focused on the functioning of our body, since after swallowing a full mole and digesting, they have investigated how the bones remain.

But for some it will be more interesting, or at least more practical, award-winning research in Public Health, as it explains the techniques of reinsertion of cut penises. Now, researchers have warned that these techniques are not useful if a duck has eaten part of the penis. The aim of the research is better understood if it is known that the research has been conducted in Thailand. It seems that there, occasionally, a female cuts the penis to her husband, and it is normal to have ducks at home.

The medical award is also very interesting, especially for mice. The prize has been to analyze the influence of classical opera on mice in which the heart has been transplanted.

In Biology, Astronomy and Probability animals have also been protagonists. In the first, they have been awarded for demonstrating that beetles are able to return home following the Milky Way. In the second study, the cows have been analyzed and they have seen two things: on the one hand, the longer a cow remains lying down, the more likely it is to get up soon, and on the other, after getting up, it is very difficult to predict when it will fall back.

The award for safety and engineering has been for the investigation of the capture and expulsion of the plane through a parachute. Finally, Peace has been divided between two: The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has been in charge of giving half for banning applause in the public; and the Police of Belarus, for arresting a mucus, for having applauded.