Researchers who used a remote-controlled helicopter to collect whale snot, scientists who documented bats having oral sex, and New Zealanders who discovered that wearing socks without shoes can prevent slipping on ice were among the winners of theIgNobel Awards 2010.
The awards, which are awarded each year by theJournal of Improbable Researcha week before the “real” Nobel Prizes are known, they were awarded yesterday during a fun ceremony at Harvard University in Massachusetts (USA).
Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse and Agnes Rocha-Gosselin, from the British Zoological Society, and Diane Gendron, from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico, received theIgNobel engineered for a new formula to study respiratory diseases in whales. “The technique involves blowing aremote control helicopteron a whale when it comes to the surface and they trap the mucus of the mammal in trays to collect samples located in the lower part of the helicopter, “the experts explained in a statement.
TheIgNobel of medicineended up in the hands of the Dutch Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest, for discovering thatasthma symptoms can be treated with a roller coaster ride. And a team of Chinese researchers led by Min Tan, from the Guangdong Entomological Institute, and including Gareth Jones from the University of Bristol, UK, won aIgNobel from biologyforscientifically document oral sex among fruit bats. “Our observations are the first to demonstrate regular fellatio in nonhuman adult animals,” the scientists say.
Furthermore, the ioil spill investigatorsEric Adams of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scott Socolofsky of Texas A&M University and Stephen Masutani of the University of Hawaii, along with BP, won aaward “for debunking the ancient belief that oil and water don’t mix”.
Among the winners were also Alessandro Pluchino and his colleagues from the University of Catania (Italy), formathematically demonstrate that organizations would be more efficient if they promoted employees randomly; Lianne Parkin and her colleagues at the University of Otago, New Zealand, for showing thatpeople slip and fall less on ice if they wear socks without shoes; and Richard Stephens and colleagues at Keele University in the UK for confirming thatcursing relieves painr.
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THIS IS ONE OF THE WINNERS: THE MASK BRA
