Peculiar Ig Nobel Prizes

An algorithm to help decide when to tell the truth or lie. The physics that helps ducklings swim in formation. These and other topics are among the studies awarded IG Nobel 2022 prizes. Peculiar Ig Nobel prizes often attract the attention of the scientific community.

The 32nd edition was held this September 15. It is organized by the editors of Annals of Improbable Research, a journal of scientific humor. IG Nobel awards are based on research with hilarious titles and descriptions. They are published with humorous intent, though not in other cases.

The peculiar Ig Nobel prizes awarded, among other things, a study on ducklings.
The peculiar Ig Nobel prizes awarded, among other things, a study on ducklings.

Ducklings and knobs

One study was honored, in the category of Applied Cardiology. It found evidence that when a new romantic couple meet for the first time and are attracted to each other, their heart rhythms synchronize. It was published in Nature Human Behavoiour.

A Literature prize was awarded. What was the study about? It analyzed why legal documents are unnecessarily difficult to understand. The paper was published in the journal Cognition.

The award in Medicine went to research dealing with ice cream. It looked at patients undergoing some forms of toxic chemotherapy. They suffer fewer harmful side effects when ice cream replaces a traditional component of the procedure. It was published in Scientific Reports.

There was also Engineering Award. The study that tried to discover the most efficient way to turn a knob. It was published in the Bulletin of the Japanese Society for Design Science.

The Physics prize went to a curious study. How do ducklings manage to swim in formation? The results are published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

An award-winning study discusses how best to manipulate a knob.
An award-winning study talks about how to best manipulate a knob.

Lies and mathematics

and the Peace Prize? For developing an algorithm for gossipers to decide when to tell the truth and when to lie. A paper appeared in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

The Economics award honored a study that tried to explain something mathematically. Why success is often not for the most talented people, but for the luckiest. It was published in Advances in Complex Systems.

Peculiar Ig Nobel prizes will always attract attention. And then from time to time, discover something interesting.

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