October 5, 2007

Google Logo Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm

The 2007 Ig Nobel Prizes

The Ig Nobel Prizes, for research that cannot, or should not, be reproduced, were awarded October 4th in Cambridge, Mass. Steve Mirsky reports.

Illustration of a Bohr atom model spinning around the words Science Quickly with various science and medicine related icons around the text

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


It’s Nobel Prize season, which means that the Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded October 4th, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The Igs go to work that “cannot, or should not, be reproduced.”  They allegedly are designed to “first make people laugh, and then make people think.” Or think twice, anyway.  Some of the winners:

The medicine prize went to a study on sword swallowing.  One sword swallower did it on a unicycle.   Which could lead to the worst flat tire story ever.

The biology prize went to a Dutch researcher for her census of all the mites, insects, spiders, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns and fungi that we share our beds with.   Fun guys were not included.

The chemistry prize was awarded to a Japanese scientist for extracting vanilla flavoring from cow manure.  Yes, the research was a flop.

Speaking of Dutch and Japanese, Spanish researchers took home the linguistics prize for showing that rats sometimes can’t tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.  Si, es verdad.  For more listen to the October 10th edition of the weekly Sci Am podcast.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe
The 2007 Ig Nobel Prizes