And the winner is... Answered

It's that time of year again - the Annals of Improbable Research has announced the 2010 IgNobel Prizes.

It makes you proud to be British....

The full list of winners:

Engineering Prize: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse (UK) and colleagues for perfecting a method to collect whale snot, using a remote-control helicopter.

Medicine Prize: Simon Rietveld (Netherlands) and colleagues for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.

Transportation Planning Prize: Toshiyuki Nakagaki (Japan) and colleagues for using slime mould to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.

Physics Prize: Lianne Parkin (New Zealand) and colleagues for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.

Peace Prize: Richard Stephens (UK) and colleagues for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.

Public health Prize: Manuel Barbeito (US) and colleagues for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists.

Economics Prize: Awarded to the executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Magnetar for creating and promoting new ways to invest money — ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.

Chemistry Prize: Eric Adams (US) and colleagues for disproving the old belief that oil and water don't mix. The research, supported by BP, was published under the title: "Review of Deep Oil Spill Modeling Activity Supported by the Deep Spill JIP and Offshore Operator's Committee".

Management Prize: Alessandro Pluchino (Italy) and colleagues for demonstrating mathematically that organisations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.

Biology Prize: Libiao Zhang (China) and colleagues for scientifically documenting fellatio in fruit bats.

Tags:ignoble prize winner

Discussions

The forums are retiring in 2021 and are now closed for new topics and comments.

lemonie

10 years ago

I think (where's tilde?) half of these worthwhile pieces of work, esp number 1.

L

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

Well that's snot what everyone thinks ;-)

lemonie

Reply 10 years ago

What's wrong with 1,3 & 5?

L

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

Well, 1 and 3 are on slippery ground....and I swear, that I can't confirm #5 :-)

Kiteman

Reply 10 years ago

#1

#3

#5

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

I "was" just kind of kidding about....see my answer to Lemonie; sorry

Kiteman

Reply 10 years ago

Oh... sorry (blush)

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

No problem, I didn't really give ANY indication that I was just joshing :-)

lemonie

Reply 10 years ago

number one is slippery, but surely a technological achievement with purpose to survey marine-life.
number three is a great piece of work, look it up.
five is well worth looking at - it works doesn't it?

L

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

Sorry, I guess I was too subtle with the original pun about
what's snot and what isn't snot

1 and 3 involve slippery slimy things (which puts them on "slippery" ground :-) .

#5 most of the time when I swear, I have been HURT and swearing increases my blood pressure and so I get a headache....so "I" can't confirm it ;-)

Next time maybe I should put

<just kidding>
statements ....
</just kidding>
:-)

lemonie

Reply 10 years ago

heh heh.
Have you tried not swearing?

L

Goodhart

Reply 10 years ago

Actually, yes. And I started out not swearing before the age of around 18-19. I admit that, in HORRIBLE pain, it helps to say SOMETHING in anger (swearing or not), it is the adrenaline rush I assume, and maybe the distraction plays a part). But mild pains are sometimes relieved only to be replaced by the headache I mentioned.