LOL: scientists win Nobel Prizes for wacky research

Bet you never thought that scientists could be funny!

We know…. it’s a bit like when your parents say they were “hip” once, and that they used to “partaay”. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?

We can assure you, however, that scientists are some of the most hilarious people on the planet. And just to prove it to you – there’s a special award for scientists who make people LAUGH, and then THINK. That award is known as the Ig Nobel Prize.

The Ig Nobel Prize

The Ig Nobel Prize is run by an organisation known as Improbable Research.  According to their website, the Ig Nobel Prize intends to “celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative”, and, “spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.”

Each year, since 1991, Ig Nobel Prizes have been given to weird and wacky scientists, who have made loony and ludicrous discoveries. And we’re talking some seriously silly stuff…

What sort of “crazy bananas” stuff wins an Ig Nobel Prize?

  • Roller coaster rides hasten the passage of kidney stones.
  • Wine experts can reliably identify, by smell, the presence of a single fly in a glass of wine.
  • Human saliva is a good cleaning agent for dirty surfaces.
  • The frequency, motivation, and effects of shouting and cursing while driving an automobile.

And that was just some of the winners of the 2018 Ig Nobel Prize.

Random facts

  • The Ig Nobel Prizes are handed out by real Nobel Laureates; those that have won the world-famous Nobel Prize for their ground-breaking work.
  • The term “Ig Nobel” is a play on the word ignoble which means of low character, not of noble or royal descent.

Ig Nobel Prizes prove scientists are cool

So, next time you hear a scientist say that they’re “hip”, they like to “partaay” and that they are funny, you have every reason to believe them. The Ig Nobel Prize is proof of that.

But we’re not so sure we can say the same thing for your parents…

Read more about this:

Improbable Research: Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize

BBC: Ig Nobel win for kidney stone removing roller-coaster

Deutsche Welle: Ig Nobel Prize winners: Self-colonoscopy, roller-coaster kidney stones

Gizmodo: Solo colonoscopies, cannibal calories, and more 2018 Ig Nobel Prize winners