Ig Nobel Prize Winners Awarded Copy of 10 Trillion Zimbabwean Dollar Bill

On September 15, the ceremony of presenting the 32nd annual Ig Nobel Prize took place. The achievements of the laureates, as always, cause a smile.

The Ig Nobel Prize, which is awarded for the most ridiculous and senseless scientific research, was awarded to laureates in 10 categories, according to a comic scientific magazine “Annals of Incredible Research”.

So, two scientists from Brazil and Colombia received a prize in biology for studying the effect of constipation on the ability of scorpions to mate.

The physics prize was awarded to two groups of scientists from China, Great Britain, Turkey and the USA at once. The researchers tried to figure out the mechanics and physiology of the movement of ducklings and find out how they manage to swim in formation.

The research of Japanese engineers to determine the optimal configuration of the fingers when rotating the handle did not go unnoticed.

And literature prize winners were honored for trying to figure out what makes legal documents unreadable.

A group of scientists from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and Aruba distinguished themselves in the Applied Cardiology nomination. The researchers found that the heartbeat of lovers “begins to synchronize” already at their first meeting.

Scientists from Italy received an award in economics for having mathematically substantiated why not the most talented, but the most successful more often become successful.

The Art History Prize was presented to scholars from the United States, Austria, the Netherlands and Guatemala for their research titled “A Multidisciplinary Approach to Ritual Enema Scenes on Ancient Maya Pottery”.

Polish scientists were also awarded the prize, who came to the conclusion that if one of the components of chemotherapy is replaced with ice cream, there will be fewer unwanted side effects.

The safety award was given to a Swedish scientist who created an optimal elk crash test dummy and defended his dissertation based on this invention.

Well, the Peace Prize went to a group of scientists from China, Hungary, Canada, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, and the USA. They developed a theoretical framework for creating individual strategies for spreading gossip.

The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony was held online, so the winners received the prizes by e-mail. As rewards, they were sent models of cylindrical “knowledge storage” containers that can be printed and glued. And the “cash” prize was a copy of the 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollar bill (which has already gone out of circulation).

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo: Screenshot of the video broadcast of the Ig Nobel Prize on improbable.com