2008 Ig Nobel Prize awarded to ‘Coke as a Spermicide’ Discovery.
How could I have missed the Ig Nobel Prizes for the past 18 years ? Not sure what the Ig stands for, these ‘nobel prizes’, which parody the more serious and respected Nobel Peace Prizes, are handed out every October for the ten achievements that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think’.
So without further ado, here are this year’s recepients…
Chemistry: Sheree Umpierre, Joseph Hill, and Deborah Anderson for finding that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide. On the other hand, C.Y. Hong, C.C. Shieh, P. Wu and B.N. Chiang proved that it was not.
Nutrition: Massimiliano Zampini and Charles Spence for proving that food tastes better when it sounds good. Focusing on potato chips, they discoverd that crunchier sounding chips tasted better. Their research has already been put to good use, with the world famous Fat Duck Restaurant in England providing diners who purchase a seafood dish with an iPod that plays ocean sounds while they eat.
Peace: The Swiss, with the help of the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity.
Biology: Marie-Christine Cadergues, Christel Joubert and Michel Franc for the discovery that fleas living on dogs are able to jump higher that fleas living on cats.
Medicine: Dan Ariely for proving that expensive fake medicine is more effective that cheap fake medicine.
Archaeology: Astolfo Gomes de Mello Araujo and Jose Carlos Marcelino for discovering that armadillos are archaeology digs are capable of moving artifacts all around the site.
Literature: David Sims who studied and authored ‘You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation Within Organizations.’
Economics: Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tyber and Brent Jordan for proving that exotic dancers are able to earn more when at their peak fertility.
Bizarre but true….
For the infinitely curious, you can find out the winners of the last 17 Ig Nobel Prizes here at wikipedia.
(source)
The name is a play on the word ignoble (”characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness”) and the name “Nobel” after Alfred Nobel.