The 2021 Ig Nobel Prize Winners:
(Heavily elided — see source for journal references, authors, ceremony participants, and more.--Ed.)
BIOLOGY PRIZE - variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication.
ECOLOGY PRIZE - genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in wads of discarded chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.
CHEMISTRY PRIZE - chemically analysing the air inside movie theatres, to test whether the odours produced by an audience reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, antisocial behaviour, drug use, and bad language in the movie the audience is watching.
ECONOMICS PRIZE - the obesity of a country's politicians may be a good indicator of that country's corruption.
MEDICINE PRIZE - sexual orgasms can be as effective as decongestant medicines at improving nasal breathing.
PEACE PRIZE - humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.
PHYSICS PRIZE - why pedestrians do not constantly collide with other pedestrians.
KINETICS PRIZE - why pedestrians do sometimes collide with other pedestrians.
ENTOMOLOGY PRIZE - A New Method of Cockroach Control on Submarines.
TRANSPORTATION PRIZE - for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down.
The entire 1h30m presentation is available on YouTube.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday September 10 2021, @02:06PM
Although I was hoping that geckos landing on trees face first would win...
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02378-6
Lengthy punditry: https://scitechdaily.com/these-incredible-geckos-crash-land-on-rainforest-trees-but-dont-fall-thanks-to-their-tails/
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday September 10 2021, @02:20PM (8 children)
I wonder what the thought process was behind the decision to try the upside-down rhinoceros transportation.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @03:14PM (1 child)
I can envision a few concerns. If the rhino is incapacitated, then trying to get it erect in slings or similar might be difficult, and put stress on its torso, while suspending it by its feet/legs may actually be a less damaging approach, conceivably.
But this is without having read the paper, so it's just off the cuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 11 2021, @07:48PM
Some large animals have trouble breathing when carried in a sling, which can be dangerous if they are sedated. This one and the cockroach control both look like useful and thus worthwhile contributions.
(Score: 4, Funny) by rufty on Friday September 10 2021, @03:30PM (1 child)
Tequila!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday September 10 2021, @04:32PM
Sad thing is, I wouldn't be surprised.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @04:29PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @05:01PM
Actually this one may be the most scientific paper of all those, rhinos are heavy and when transported by helis, the net pressures too much the thoracic case and rhinos have difficulty to breath and if long travels, they can even die... so this was a test to see if transporting them upside down would release the thorax and let then breath better. Notice that they are sleeping in both cases
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @07:40PM
I'd use a harness too of course to stop it from moving too much or drowning.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Magic Oddball on Friday September 10 2021, @09:18PM
There's an interesting BBC article [bbc.com] explaining that it's because caretakers in Africa periodically have to relocate endangered rhinos for breeding purposes, and they wished to know which method was the best for the rhino's health. Upside-down by the ankles turned out to be the best option, because the rhino's weight made it harder for the animal to breathe if lying down or suspended by its chest.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Friday September 10 2021, @03:07PM (1 child)
The sad, or funny, part is that a lot of these IG papers are better or more interesting then a lot of normal or "serious" papers.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 10 2021, @04:45PM
Zoos and conservation orgs that need to transport Rhinos exist. Knowing the best way to move them around without killing them does not seem ignoble to me in the first place....
(Score: 2) by hubie on Friday September 10 2021, @04:37PM
The paper [oup.com] is open access. Unfortunately, the experiments turned out to be whacking bone surrogates covered and uncovered by sheep wool for their experiment. I somehow was picturing something a bit more colorful, perhaps set in an Irish pub or something.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Corelli's A on Friday September 10 2021, @05:05PM
I sometimes gripe about sloppy summaries, so I'd like to balance that a bit by saying "Thank you!" for this concise summary. No fluff, no sic-disease, all meat.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ilsa on Friday September 10 2021, @05:08PM
I have to say, as silly as some of them sound, if you think about it they could prove to be extremely valuable!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @06:41PM
For the ig noblest experiment in self governance we've got a close race between Oklahoma and Texas!
https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-oklahoma-city-medicaid-71b615efeb283e12c0cdd79a230b7df5 [apnews.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @07:43PM (2 children)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10955182/ [nih.gov]
See also: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10207-ig-nobel-prizes-hail-digital-rectal-massage/ [newscientist.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Friday September 10 2021, @11:12PM (1 child)
Gee, can you be a bit more vague?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday September 11 2021, @02:16AM
Well, if they are seeking people for trial tests, I would be willing to sign up.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P