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2015 Ig Nobel Prizes Honor Bee Stings, Elephant Urination

Posted by Soulskill on from the asking-the-tough-questions dept.

sciencehabit writes: The Ig Nobel prizes award research that 'makes people laugh, and then think', and this year was no exception. At a ceremony at Harvard University Thursday night, awards were given for a variety of wacky science papers. Among the winners, a scientist who repeatedly had himself stung by bees to figure out the most painful place in the body to be stung, and a study of which animals take the longest to urinate.

30 comments

  1. Most Painful Place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Was it the penis? I bet it was the penis.

    1. Re:Most Painful Place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There was a young man of Tralee
      Who was stung in the neck by a wasp
      When they said "Does it hurt?"
      He said "No, not a bit
      It can do it again if it likes"

      This is close to the Original, variously attributed to Gilbert or Shaw, but it is in fact part of a Irish Music Hall routine involving a Doctor, a Priest, and an Undertaker, and predates the Great Hunger. This is probably the cleanest version. One step down was "There was a young man born in Knock..."

      Captcha: banned

    2. Re:Most Painful Place by operagost · · Score: 1

      I guess it rhymes better in the original Klingon.

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    3. Re:Most Painful Place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Klingons go more for Haiku. (They pronounce "Haiku" with four syllables, and they use a punctuation mark not in the Slashdot character set.)

      Kahless stung by wasp
      Swears, then regains dignity
      "Good tea and nice house"

    4. Re:Most Painful Place by operagost · · Score: 1

      Worf, the son of Mog
      Truly hates birthday parties
      Likes pain stick better

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    5. Re:Most Painful Place by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Is he different from the Worf, son of Mogh?

    6. Re:Most Painful Place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good, but not Ignobel.

      Klingon bee sting cure:
      Elephant Urination
      Wet but effective

    7. Re:Most Painful Place by operagost · · Score: 1

      Yes. The Worf in my poem wasn't so anal about the spelling of TV show character names.

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    8. Re:Most Painful Place by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Normally Haiku must mention one of the four seasons. But Klingon has only one season. So awaiting a ruling from the High Haiku Council.

  2. Clicking is hard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The first line of TFA: The nostril, the lips, and the shaft of the penis.

    1. Re:Clicking is hard by radarskiy · · Score: 2

      if your penis has lips and a nostril, you have bigger problems than bee stings.

  3. I thought the golden rule was... by Triklyn · · Score: 3, Funny

    only pee on others if they pee on you.

    1. Re: I thought the golden rule was... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, that's the golden shower rule.

  4. makes you wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    For statistical rigor, he stung himself with honey bees three times in each of 25 locations.

    Auto-erotic masochism perhaps?

  5. Taking the piss by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    or perhaps just measuring it!

  6. I'd like to know......... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    which vidoe games can make me have involuntary bladder impulses. Falling long distances in UT2004 tends to work.

    1. Re:I'd like to know......... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Installing or fixing MS Windows makes me tinkle in horror a little.

  7. The Law of Urination by doconnor · · Score: 2

    Quirks and Quarks covered the Urination story back in 2013.

  8. Huh? by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's all I got to say about their literature prize.

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    1. Re:Huh? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      in more ways than one. It appears to be linguistics, not literature.

    2. Re:Huh? by orasio · · Score: 1

      Eh?

  9. Complete? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can this be legitimate research when he didn't even test the taint?

    https://dfzljdn9uc3pi.cloudfront.net/2014/338/1/fig-1-full.png

  10. I was disappointed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was disappointed that the sting researcher had an ordinary name.

    He could have been called Roger Dickson, or Willy Pullman.

    Though I could have died happily right there if he was called Bernie Johnson.

  11. Study of stings was flawed by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Women were not included in the study design, and it was not race insensitive.

    For all we know, there could be different reactions, based on pain response, just as people from some regions can't tolerate milk or alcohol, while others can.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Study of stings was flawed by burtosis · · Score: 1

      Women were not included in the study design, and it was not race insensitive.

      For all we know, there could be different reactions, based on pain response, just as people from some regions can't tolerate milk or alcohol, while others can.

      Sounds to me like you want to be stung on the penis. Go ahead and let us all know how that turns out for you.

    2. Re:Study of stings was flawed by bjohnson · · Score: 2

      That would possibly be the most amusing/horrifying Human Subjects Committee review ever.

    3. Re:Study of stings was flawed by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      I was kind of hoping you would volunteer as a male subject, while I would volunteer as a control (no stings)

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      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  12. 65 year old scientists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did they include 65 year old male scientists in their urination study?

    1. Re:65 year old scientists by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did they include 65 year old male scientists in their urination study?

      Partly. Most were unable to participate because they interrupted the study too frequently.

      So, in a word ... [*sunglasses*] ... depends.

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    2. Re:65 year old scientists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeeaahhhhhhhhhhhh~!