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Subject: The Ig Noble awards.
Replies: 33 Views: 1628

obi_jon 21.09.14 - 10:01am
This year's winners have been announced. The prizes are awarded for the more 'bizarre' aspects of scientific research and this year included studies into why banana skins are slippy and on what is happening in the brain when a person sees a face, such as Jesus, in a slice of toast(a phenomenom known as pareidolia). * +

obi_jon 21.09.14 - 10:05am
This year's winners in full:

PHYSICS: Kiyoshi Mabuchi, of Kitasato University, Japan, and colleagues, for measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that's on the floor.

NEUROSCIENCE: Kang Lee, of the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues for trying to understand what happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.

PSYCHOLOGY: Peter Jonason, of the University of Western Sydney, Australia, and colleagues for amassing evidence that people who habitually stay up late are, on average, more self-admiring, more manipulative, and more psychopathic than people who habitually arise early in the morning.

PUBLIC HEALTH: Jaroslav Flegr, of Charles University, Czech Republic, and colleagues for investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.

BIOLOGY: Vlastimil Hart, of the Czech University of Life Sciences, and colleagues for carefully documenting that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north-south geomagnetic field lines.

ART: Marina de Tommaso, of the University of Bari, Italy, and colleagues for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.

ECONOMICS: The Italian government's National Institute of Statistics, for proudlyvtaking the lead in fulfilling the European Union mandate for each country to increase the official size of its national economy by including revenues from prostitution, illegal drug sales, smuggling, and all other unlawful financial transactions between willing participants.

MEDICINE: Ian Humphreys, of Michigan State University, US, and colleagues, for treating uncontrollable nosebleeds, using the method of nasal-packing-with-strips-of-cured-pork. * +

notsabad 21.09.14 - 10:05am
There should be some kinda study to discover what kinda idiots decide it's worth pumping loads of money into largely pointless studies.... * +

banjo 21.09.14 - 10:06am
Famous Strayun science geek dr karl kruszelnicki won one a few years back for studies into why belly button fluff is always blue * +

rose01 21.09.14 - 10:08am
Lmao at some of the studies.. the cat one and the dog poo one * +

notsabad 21.09.14 - 10:11am
To be fair, I can find reasons to support why most of those studies are worthwhile... Even though not exactly high priority.... Apart from the BIOLOGY one.. The one with the dog.... That's not going to ever be helpful or even interesting! * +

obi_jon 21.09.14 - 10:11am
ARCTIC SCIENCE: Eigil Reimers, of the University of Oslo, Norway, and colleagues, for testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears.

NUTRITION: Raquel Rubio, of IRTA, Spain, and colleagues, for their study titled 'Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages.' * +

madam.x 21.09.14 - 10:13am
I'll pass on those.. * +

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