On the night of September 15, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place, a satirical award for discoveries that make you “first laugh and then think.”
The ceremony, traditionally organized by an American magazine about incredible research, was held online. Awards were presented to the winners in ten fields of science by real Nobel laureates.
The Literature Prize was awarded to researchers of the unusual sensation that occurs when the same word is repeated many times. In their opinion, this is a manifestation of jamevu – when the familiar seems unfamiliar, it is the opposite of déjà vu.
In the field of nutrition, the Ig Nobel Prize was awarded to Japanese scientists for their research into electrified chopsticks and drinking straws. They found that by using electrical stimulation of the tongue, “the taste of food could be instantly changed” – for example, it would seem saltier.
The developers of a “smart” toilet with user identification by anus received an award in the field of health. The toilet is capable of analyzing human feces and urine for signs of various diseases.
An international team that studied teacher and student boredom has won the Ig Nobel Prize for Education. Another, also international, team took home a medical award for counting the hairs in the nostrils of dead people.
The winners received a 3D model of the award, which they had to assemble themselves by printing out the corresponding file, and a counterfeit ten trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe (in 2009, due to hyperinflation, the country issued a hundred trillion dollar banknote – it could only buy a loaf of bread ).
