2007 Ig Nobel Awards Announced

prostoalex writes "The annual Ig Noble awards by Annals of Improbable Research were announced tonight. The winners included the scientists who discovered that impotence drugs help with jet lag recovery, "a Dutch researcher who conducted a census of all the creepy-crawlies that share our beds, Spanish scientists who found that rats sometimes could not distinguish between Japanese spoken backwards and Dutch spoken backwards, an Australian woman who documented the indexing problems caused by the word "the", a Japanese researcher who extracted vanilla flavoring from cow dung, and a Taiwanese man who patented a Batman-like device that drops a net over bank robbers," MSNBC says."

Comments

Summary forgot the best part!

[SamP2]

The Gay Bomb which induces enemies to engage in homosexual behavior.

I wonder how long before it becomes a political weapon of mass discreditation?

Re:Summary forgot the best part!

[User 956]

I wonder how long before it becomes a political weapon of mass discreditation?

Given the way things are going in the GOP, I'm guessing it will become more of an excuse.

Re:Summary forgot the best part!

[retro128]

I'm not sure if it's possible to get our government to screw each other and the public more than they are already.

Re:Summary forgot the best part!

[Atario]

Clearly, someone already set it off at some Republican convention.

Re:Summary forgot the best part!

[Dragonslicer]

Then again, I seem to recall reading a study where it was found that monkeys who engage in sex often are less aggressive than those who don't. So maybe it should be mandated that politicians get laid at least thrice per week (once per day if they have nukes) ? I guess that does explain quite a bit about Bill Clinton...

Re:Summary forgot the best part!

[moosesocks]

I was indeed referring to that with the heaviest of sarcasm.

Since I suppose the slashdot nerds don't appear quite as up to speed on the situation, the President of Iran made a speech at Columbia University a week or two ago, where he proudly declared that there are absolutely no homosexuals in Iran.

And, yes. Of course I understand that homosexuality is a naturally-occurring phenomenon (with strong statistical and biological evidence to support this). However, from what I understand, the bell-curve hypothesis isn't well-supported, especially with the peak centered around 50%. Whatever the estimates are regarding the distribution of human sexuality, it's safe to say that 50% of the population is NOT bisexual. In the gay community, there's also a surprising bit of contention over whether or not there are "real" bisexuals (especially among males).

A more reasonable alternate proposed was a bimodal distribution with a large peak halfway between Heterosexual and bisexual, and a smaller peak halfway between bisexual and homosexual.

Noble uses

[speaker of the truth]

It would actually be great for countries with overpopulation actually.

Re:Noble uses

[speaker of the truth]

Actually? Like really, actually? And the people in third world conditions don't tend to have kids just because they don't know about birth control - it's for helping around the house (especially for when they get older), and also they have lots because some are bound to die, etc. Actually. Right. But its one thing to have sex with someone because you enjoy it AND you could always use an extra pair of hands. Its quite another to have sex with someone that repulses you ONLY because you need an extra pair of hands. While the latter will still happen, it will happen less then the former.

How is my post flamebait anyway? On average homosexuals do have less sex with women the heterosexuals.

just subtract the expenses from revenue

[User 956]

a Taiwanese man who patented a Batman-like device that drops a net over bank robbers

Yes, well, he only developed it because he was interested in the net profit.

Re:just subtract the expenses from revenue

[clarkkent09]

Yes, and the guy extracted vanilla flavor from cow dung because he was interested in gross profit

Re:just subtract the expenses from revenue

[Anonymous Coward]

He just wanted to make a shitload of money.

Re:just subtract the expenses from revenue

[WED Fan]

So the plan goes:
1. Patent comic book style device
2. Subtract expenses from revenue
3. Profit

Hmmm.

You F O O L !!!! You actually named step 2. Do you realize the consequences of such an action? The Universe could end. Entropy could accelerate. Look, it's already begun. Why? Why did you do such a thing? Were you not thinking of the children?

Great, that and global warming.

The indexing thing

[Daimanta]

an Australian woman who documented the indexing problems caused by the word "the" Is it just me, or is that pretty handy to know. Words like "the" and "of" pretty much clutter non-smart registers.

Re:The indexing thing

[KDR_11k]

This is why most lists move a leading "the" or other particle to the end of the name. If you want that taken to the extreme try military indexing, they move all adjectives behind the noun (except in France because in France everything's backwards from the start).

Re:The indexing thing

[armb]

> "Registers that ignore words like "the" and "of" are more efficient than those that doesn't"

There speaks a man who has never tried finding music by The The on Amazon.

Re:The indexing thing

[ribuck]

Heh, it's actually my sister who won this Ig Nobel prize for doing research on how to index "The". The premier geek in the family, and she doesn't even try to be one!

As she points out in her research, how are you ever going to look up the band "The The" unless the word "the" is indexed. And if you index it sometimes, shouldn't you index it always?

Re:The indexing thing

[Deadstick]

So, ummm, what will those guys call themselves if they get a gig in Russia?

rj

Mice Commissioned Earth

[RuBLed]

Spanish scientists who found that rats sometimes could not distinguish between Japanese spoken backwards and Dutch spoken backwards.

I don't believe that's the case...

Re:Well...

[KGIII]

Be grateful they can't breed. But, well, the family could accept the award on their behalf or we could just mock them from the stands or at home while drinking. Okay. I'd do that. Other people might say that I'm politically correct or something. (I'd then call them Pinko Fags just to prove a point but they'd likely not get it.)

Re:Why don't we see Climate Science in here..?

[KGIII]

Yes and weather is 14 to 7 but it is still the first half so he's maintaining hope.

Itchy? Mites are eating your dead skin.

[Futurepower(R)]

Photo: House dust mites feed on human skin scales...

Wrong superhero

[carou]

a Batman-like device that drops a net over bank robbers

Well, that's a Spiderman-like device then, surely?

Soup Bowl experiment may help dieting

[Russell Coker]

The research that showed people eating more soup (without feeling more full) if the bowl was filled without them noticing is not interesting on it's own. But if the opposite is true then it may be commercially successful.

What if you had a soup bowl that sucked soup out without the eater noticing, if they felt full after believing that they ate a large bowl of soup then it might make dieting a lot easier!

If the appearance of food size determines how much people eat then maybe different shaped bowls could affect how much people eat. Maybe a bowl that makes a serve of food look big would encourage people to eat less.

Professor Frink?

[ideonode]

I just noticed that the Ig Nobel mantra is "Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK". I wonder whether Professor Frink deliberately echoed that in his little ditty: " Professor Frink, Professor Frink, He'll make you laugh, he'll make you think". After all, Professor Frink certainly deserves a few Ig Nobel Awards...

Gay bomb - who tested this?

[Russell Coker]

I wonder who tested the "gay bomb" for the US air force?

Sounds like a good excuse for some guys who were gay already "we're not gay, we're testing some new weapons". If they didn't ban gay men from joining the military this wouldn't be a problem.

Alexander the Great seemed to be successful in his military campaigns with a significant number of homosexuals in his army. Maybe the US military would be more effective if they used the "gay bomb" on their own guys.

Re:Gay bomb - who tested this?

[WilliamSChips]

And more importantly, when will this show up on Torchwood?

Viagra and jet lag

[oz1cz]

I must have missed something.

Medical science is full of instances where a drug designed for one thing turns out to be useful for other things as well. Why, then, is it so amusing to consider if Viagra may have interesting and useful side effects?

Re:Viagra and jet lag

[ArAgost]

It is quite amusing if you think that what is now considered the main effect of Viagra was considered a side effect during the initial tests :)

Re:Viagra and jet lag

[MMC Monster]

I'm missing the idea as well. For a while high-dose melatonin was suggested to prevent jet lag (It worked for me, and also seems to improve my "performance" in bed as well). You never know what unusual side effects a medication has.

Viagra in particular is also the cheapest drug to treat pulmonary hypertension. Some other drugs to treat it literally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

My fave...

[fudgefactor7]

...a Japanese researcher who extracted vanilla flavoring from cow dung,...
 
Ummm,....why would you even try? WTF?

From the bank robber Batman net device patent

[Dachannien]

27. The device according to claim 26 wherein said device goes "WHAM", "POW", or "BIFF" when used.

Re:From the bank robber Batman net device patent

[Tablizer]

The device according to claim 26 wherein said device goes "WHAM", "POW", or "BIFF" when used.

No, those are the names soldiers give each other after exposure to the Gay Bomb mentioned above.

Re:Ahhh... America bashing

[Whiteox]

Australia.

Whither "The The"?

[whyde]

Simple. It goes under "The, The."

ObAllYourBase

[sconeu]

Somebody set us up the gay bomb!