Tag: Ig Nobels

The 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes

It’s October, which means not only that I am now getting up in the dark, but that it is time for the Ig Nobel Prizes, given annually by the Annals of Improbable Research “For achievements that first make people LAUGH then make them THINK” (apparently IN CAPITAL LETTERS). The 2008 prizes were handed out last …

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The 2007 Ig Nobel Prizes

Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. Every fall the leaves fall from the trees, and the Ig Nobel Prizes fall from on high (well, from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research) upon the grateful—usually—heads of researchers whose achievements “make people laugh—then think.” My favorite this year (probably because I read …

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2007 Ig Nobel Awards presented

It’s Ig Nobel time again. This year’s winners include the U.S. military for its plans to make a “gay bomb,” research into the use of Viagra to help hamsters recover from jet lag, and a medical study of the risks of sword swallowing. (Via New Scientist.) See my post at Futurismic–and next week’s science column!

The 2006 Ig Nobel Prizes

Scientists have a pop-culture reputation as either a) boring or b) mad. That they are not necessarily the former (although, based on the evidence, the jury is still out on the latter) was proven once again last month with the annual awarding of the Ig Nobel Prizes “for research which first makes you laugh, then …

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The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2003

May I have the envelope please…it’s time to once again inform my faithful readers of the results of the Ig Nobel Prizes, given annually by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research to those who have done something that first makes people laugh, then makes them think. This year’s winners received a solid gold …

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The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2002

It’s time again to announce the winners of some of the most prestigious prizes in science. No, not THOSE. I’m not talking about the IgNobel Prizes, awarded annually by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research to those who have done something that first makes people laugh, then makes them think; or, to put …

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The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2001

Each year, the Nobel Prize Committee in Sweden honors outstanding scientific research from around the world. And each year, just before the Nobel Prizes are awarded, the IgNobel Prize Committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts, awards the IgNobel Prizes to honor people whose achievements “cannot or should not be reproduced.” The IgNobels, sponsored by the scientific humor …

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The Ig Nobel Prizes of 2000

This is the time of the year when the winners of the prestigious Nobel Prizes are announced with great fanfare and acclaim. That’s all well and good, but the real Nobel Prizes, frankly, take themselves far too seriously. They tend to support the prevailing belief that science is stuffy, boring, and, well, nobel–er, noble. Fortunately, …

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The Ig Nobel Prizes of 1999

Some people think scientists are a dour, serious lot. For proof they are nothing of the sort, look no further than the scientific awards ceremony held last week at Harvard University. The most famous scientific awards are, of course, the Nobel Prizes. These were not those. These were the Ig Nobel Prizes, which annually honors …

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