Can you cure hiccups through rectal massage? Is Coca-Cola an effective spermicide?
Scientists who have devoted their research to these burning questions, among others, are on their way to Harvard University for the 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes, the annual spoof for research that “cannot or should not be reproduced.”
A bevy of genuine Nobel laureates, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, will be on hand to give out this year’s awards and show off their goofy side.
“We’re honoring the achievements that make people laugh — but also make you think,” said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, which hosts the event.
Among the past winners who will attend are Dan Meyer, who released a lengthy study on the medical effects of sword-swallowing, and Don Featherstone, the inventor of the plastic pink flamingo lawn ornament. Yep. It’s his fault.
Gynecology professor Deborah Anderson accepted her Ig Nobel last year for her now infamous study into whether Coca-Cola works as a form of birth control.
Some people think it’s an old wives’ tale, but Anderson proved that Coke actually kills sperm on contact. Diet Coke works even better, she found.
Of course, neither is considered as effective as, say, a condom.
The professor told a gaggle of the world’s top scientists that she hoped her work would dissuade people from relying on the cola as birth control — even if there is a small bit of truth to it.
“We were thrilled to win because the study was somewhat of a parody in the first place,” she said.
Skip over this contenAnother past winner, Dr. Francis Fesmire, is now the director of the emergency heart center at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tenn. He wasn’t sure at first if he wanted to accept his 2006 Ig Nobel for a paper he wrote called “Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage.”
“I’m a serious guy, and something I wrote in 1987 is coming back to haunt me,” he told USA Today.
Fesmire nevertheless learned to love his Ig Nobel, and is expected to be among the returning winners. The doctor nevertheless still hopes to be remembered for his work he’s done in cardiac research.
If nothing else, the Ig Nobels might be the perfect antidote for overlong awards shows. Each winner gets a maximum of 60 seconds to explain his research, and if he goes too long, a cute but intractable 8-year-old girl whisks the person off the stage.
Among the highlights of this year’s ceremony: “The Big Bank Opera,” a musical salute to Wall Street’s demise, topped off with a one-minute keynote by noted mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, who will explain how financial markets are fraught with risk.
Here are a few of the honored recipients from years past:
Extreme Zipper Injuries — Three doctors at a Navy Hospital in San Diego received a 1993 Ig Nobel in Medicine for a 1990 research report, “Acute Management of the Zipper-Entrapped Penis.” Ouch.
Self-Perfuming Suit — What do you do when you stink so badly that even a daily shower won’t help? The 1999 Ig Nobel winner for contributions in environmental protection was South Korean manufacturer Hyuk-ho Kwon of Kolon. His $400, self-perfuming suit was made of a special scratch-and-sniff fabric. The peppermint-scented attire can be repeatedly dry-cleaned without losing its scent.
Dangerous Doll Sex — Hey, guys! Before you have your way with “Rubber Rhonda,” you might want to read a cautionary medical report from Ellen Kleist of Greenland and Harold Moi of Norway, “Transmission of Gonorrhea Through an Inflatable Doll,” published in Genitourinary Medicine. This work earned a 1996 Ig Nobel for public health.
Bird-Brained Critics — Are pigeons making a statement when they leave their mess? Three Japanese psychologists at Keio University were honored in 1995 with an Ig Nobel in psychology for training pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso and those of Monet.
Baby Make Mommy Dizzy — What’s the best way to ease the pain of childbirth? George and Charlotte Blonsky invented a spinning birthing table. You twirl an expectant mom at 82 revolutions per minute and the baby just pops out, or so they claim.
Does it work? In 1965, the Blonskys actually received U.S. patent No. 3,216,423. They never made a cent off their contraption, but 34 years later, they became Ig Nobel laureates.
We won’t know this year’s crop of winners until this Thursday night. Stay tuned for an update on this year’s winners.
SOURCE: News.AOL.com
Posted on October 1st, 2009 at 6:01 pm by Lin McNulty
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