Thursday, 14 October 2021

THE CRAZY WORLD OF THE IG NOBEL PRIZE

 

Hi everyone! Have you ever seen the movie Back to the future? I think Doc, the crazy scientist of this movie, if he were a real person,  would win the Ig Nobel Prize. In my post I’m going to share with you some of this year’s winners.

What is the Ig Nobel Prize?

The Ig Nobel Prize is an annual prize award. The name of this award is a parody of the Nobel Prize, because it is actually … ignoble! The Prize celebrates the quirkiest, most offbeat and weirdest researches that often get overlooked. Ten prizes are awarded each year in many categories of the scientific research. It started in 1991 and it was created by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the Annals of Improbable Research, which organized the events. The aim of this prize is to award a prize to “achievements that first makes people LAUGH, and then THINK.”

The Ig Nobel Prize 2021 and Covid-19

This year the ceremony, which is in the Sanders theatre at Harvard University, was online for limitations due to Covid-19. The winners received a cash prize in the form of counterfeit 10 trillion dollar Zimbabwean banknote and a trophy they had to assemble themselves from a PDF print-out.

Who won the Ig Nobel Prize 2021?

The ten categories of scientific research which won this Prize were: Biology, Ecology, Chemistry, Economics, Medicine, Peace, Physics, Kinetics, Entomology and Transportation. Here are some of the funniest.

Have you ever thought that the obesity of the politicians was connected to their country’s corruption? Pavlo Blavatskyy won the Economy Prize because he discovered that the obesity of country’s politicians may be a good indicator of the country’s corruption. Probably he was inspired by Jabba The Hutt, who is character of the world of Star Wars, he appeared in the sixth movie of the saga and he was shady matters.

 


This year the researches about pedestrians won two Ig Nobel Prizes.

Alessandro Corbetta and his colleagues won the Physics Prize for their experiments about how pedestrians don’t constantly collide with other pedestrians.

Hisashi Murakami and his colleagues won the Kinetics Prize for the experiments about why pedestrians sometimes collide with other pedestrians.

Leila Satari and her colleagues won the Ecology Prize for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria found in wads of discarded chewing gum in France, Greece, Singapore, Spain and Turkey.

 


Jorg Wicker and his colleagues won the Chemistry Prize for their work measuring volatile organic compounds given off by audiences while they watched a movie in a theatre. The team’s goal was to determine the levels of violence, bad language and… in the films.

Susanne Schötz took home the Biology Prize for numerous studies in which she analysed how cats communicate with humans via purring, chirping and so on.

 


What is the best method to transport rhinoceros? For Robin W. Radcliffe, the winner of the Transportation Prize, it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside down. These animals, when they are angry, can attack humans and be dangerous, an example is the pure zoologist Franklin Finbar, who was chased by rhinoceros in one of the scenes of the movie Jumanji- Welcome to the jungle.

 


Why is this weird prize important?

It is an important Prize for those researchers whose experiments are not recognized and rewarded by the official standard prizes we have. Their work makes us laugh or smile, but it also helps us see things from a different, unusual point of view. 

                                                  Giorgia M., 3scA    

No comments:

Post a Comment