In its 23rd year, the committee Ig Nobel (pronounced "despicable" in English), composed of journalists from the Annals of Improbable Research, presented an award to the 10 most absurd a priori scientific research. For even if this price is first humorous, it rewards the work that make you laugh, then think. And this year is no exception to the rule. A French lab has even received Ig Nobel.
What was initially schoolboy has become an institution now. Nobel Prizes are now attending the Ig Nobel ceremony to present the award to their fellow scientists. The award ceremony is held annually in the local Harvard, the prestigious American university.
Price Psychology: Cocorico! France has got its first Ig Nobel (Update: psychology) this year with a study of the inter-university psychology laboratory in Grenoble, entitled "Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder" ("Beauty is in the eye drinker of beer "). It shows that a person imagines more attractive when she thinks being drunk, even if she did not drink. (You see, first we laugh, then we think.)
Price of probability: This is definitely my favorite. British researchers have shown that the more a cow is lying down, the more likely it gets up soon. And better yet, they have also shown that when the cow was standing, could not easily predict when she went back to bed.
Medicine Prize: it was awarded to a Japanese study that evaluated the effect of the opera in patients who underwent cardiac transplantation and who are ... mouse. And if you're wondering: yes, if your mouse has to undergo a heart transplant, you can increase its chances of survival by making him listen to La Traviata and Mozart.
Price biology and astronomy: a Swedish-Australian-South African team discovered that the lost can find their way dung watching the Milky Way.
Security engineering Price: This magnificent prize goes to an American for his worthy of a good James Bond invention. He invented an electromechanical system to trap terrorists aircraft. The system breaks down the hijackers in a trap with a trap, the boxes, then ejects the aircraft via another door, where they landed gently with a parachute. The police, alerted by radio, only has to stop.
The price of physics awarded to a European team has discovered that some people may be physically able to run on the surface of a pond ... if these people and the pond are on the Moon.
The prize for chemistry: the Japanese team found that the biochemical process by which the onion cry is more complicated than scientists had determined.
The archeology price: Canadian researchers have boiled a dead mole, before you swallow without chewing, and then scrutinize their excrement in the following days to determine whether bones dissolve in the human digestive system.
The price of peace: He was assigned to the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made it illegal for public applause. And the price was also attributed to the Belarusian police have arrested a man with one arm and dared applaud.
The price of public health certainly the WTF. It rewards Thai researchers for their technique described in their report, "Surgical management of an epidemic of penis amputation in Siam." But this technique is not recommended in cases where the penis was partially eaten by a duck.
In fact, after reading this, I want to rewrite my title and change it to "Ig-Nobel 2013: a good year of science that makes you laugh ... and laugh again."
