Category Archives: Ig Nobel prizes

Ig Nobel prize goes to team who found mammals can breathe through anuses

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Scientific research on pigeon missiles and dead trout also win at awards for amusing studies with serious implications

In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses.

After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure.

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Upside down rhinos and nose-clearing orgasm studies win Ig Nobel prize

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Research from the more unusual realms of science is recognised every year at this alternative awards ceremony

Groundbreaking studies into how well beards soften punches to the face, the benefits of transporting rhinoceroses upside down, and orgasms as a nasal decongestant were honoured on Thursday night with one of the most coveted awards in science: the Ig Nobel prize.

Not to be confused with the more prestigious – and lucrative – Nobel awards, to be announced from Stockholm and Oslo next month, the Ig Nobels celebrate the quirkier realms of science, rewarding research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think.

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Frozen poo and narcissists’ eyebrows studies win Ig Nobel prizes

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Gongs also awarded for research into vibrating earthworms, French kissing and bellowing alligators

The annals of science brim with researchers who pushed the boundaries of sense and good taste in a laudable quest for knowledge. With the unveiling of the 30th annual Ig Nobel awards, another case shall be added.

To test the validity of a story in a work of ethnographic literature, Metin Eren, an anthropologist at Kent State University in Ohio, made a knife from his frozen faeces. He then set about butchering an animal hide, an endeavour that ended in failure.

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Study of French postmen’s testicles is an Ig Nobel winner

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Nappy-changing machine and saliva calculation also triumph in annual science prize

There comes a time in a scientist’s life when the surest route to global fame involves a bevy of naked French postmen with thermometers taped to their testicles.

At least that is the case for Roger Mieusset, a fertility specialist at the University of Toulouse, whose unlikely studies have earned him one of the most coveted awards in academia: an Ig Nobel prize.

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