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2011 Ig Nobel Prizes
alphadogg writes "The quirky Ig Nobel prizes honoring some of the world's funniest if not the most practical academic research will be handed out tonight at 7:30 EST at Harvard University. The theme this year is chemistry, but that doesn't really restrict which entries might win, judging from research that has claimed Ig Nobels in the past. For instance, last year the prize for medicine went to a Netherlands researcher who discovered that riding roller coasters alleviates asthma symptoms. The prize for engineering went to an international team 'for perfecting a method to collect whale snot using a remote-control helicopter.'" You can read more about this year's nominees and watch the live webcast here.
Totalitarian leaders of the middle-east should be given the Ig Noble Peace prize for their peaceful methods of spreading their good word. Hell, give the US one as well.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Some guy documented fellatio among fruit bats. With video. The goggles, they did nothing...
C|N>K
http://www.jir.com/
http://www.forteantimes.com/
enjoy
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
You are a moron.
Ig Nobles are supposed to make you laugh and THEN make you think because the science is in fact a) good and b) turns out quite important.
Funny also how Ig Noble award winners dont share your opinion
Actually, the vast majority of Ig Noble recipients love it. They have a great sense of humor, and several real Nobel prize winners show up to hand out the awards. The awards are mostly a celebration of the quirky and funny, and an honest celebration of obscure and (seemingly) trivial research. Although in one case, an Ig Nobel preceded a real Nobel prize: http://boingboing.net/2010/10/05/scientist-wins-both.html
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
Relax, they give those prizes for science that makes you laugh, not for useless science.
A great example is the one about feeding Viagra to hamsters with jet-lag. It's insane, but now that's done, maybe we can use a cheaper/safer substitute based on its findings. The researcher was not offended at all: he even wanted to wear a hamster costume for the Ig Nobel ceremony (he couldn't find one, though).
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
3. Be a scientist with a sense of humor.
The scientific community tends to like the quirky. The vast majority of professors have comics stuck to their door. Of those comics, the vast majority are poking fun at research the professor is involved in. Now I could see where engineers would be upset.
If you have ever gone to see the IgNobels or watched them on video, you have seen the paper airplane blizzard. Here is a screenplay in which the paper airplanes play a pivotal role: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13651346/The-EightFoot-Bride-an-original-screenplay
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I'm a scientist and I'd love to get an IgNoble, heck I would put it on my academic CV. For a start they do pretty decent science outreach. Besides that, having looked at a fair few of the studies they consider / give awards to many are of the very highest quality. The only reason someone would be bat-shit enough to shove a asthma sufferer on a roller coaster is if they had an a priori hypothesis as to why it might improve their condition. The condition for getting an IgNoble is that the research makes you laugh, then makes you think. If nothing else that work combats the Sarah Palin 'Xty million dollars to study fruit flies" moron brigade by reminding people that just because research sounds funny or odd doesn't mean it isn't of value and certainly doesn't mean it isn't of practical use.