Today's curious story is made possible by curiosity itself (or rather its manifestation in the relentless progress of science).
The Ig Nobel Prize - As is tradition during this time of year, the past few weeks have seen another cohort of scientists elevated to the highest reaches of their profession as they received this year's Nobel Prizes. However, slightly off the beaten path of trailblazing scientific achievements, another prize for extraordinary discovery is presented annually on the hallowed grounds of Harvard University - the Ig Nobel Prize (or "Igs"). Awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research (Link), the Igs honours achievements "that first make people laugh, and then make them think".* Since both "laughing" and "thinking" seem to have drawn the short end of the metaphorical stick that is 2020, it will be the honour of this newsletter to highlight some of the most deserving recent winners:
[Literature references at the end in chronological order]
The 2020 Prize for Acoustics: The research conducted by Stephan Reber and his colleagues at Lund University in Sweden finally answers the question how an alligator inhaling helium sounds. You can read all about their findings in an article in the Journal of Experimental Biology (Link). No alligators were harmed in this experiment (and surprisingly, nobody from Florida was involved)
The 2017 Prize for Physics: The team around Marc-Antoine Fardin used fluid dynamics to answer the slightly Schrödinger-esque question of whether a cat can "be both a solid and a liquid" (the answer is "maybe" because "cats are active rheological materials") (Link)
The 2016 Prize for Economics**: Mark Avis and team won a well-deserved Igs in 2016 for assessing the perceived personalities of rocks (from a sales and marketing perspective). One of the conclusions drawn is the “ importance of critical examination of the methods used to measure marketing concepts”. (Link)
The 2015 Prize for Management: Vineet Bhagwat and his colleagues discovered that many business leaders developed a fondness for risk-taking during their childhood when they experienced natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wildfires) that (for them) had no dire personal consequences (Link)
Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, and the originator and master of ceremonies of the annual Ig Nobel Prize celebration
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*The Igs are presented to their recipients by actual Nobel Laureates and come with a cash prize of a 10 trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe. The Igs ceremonies have also solved the question of how to make sure speakers stick to their allotted time (through the help of "Miss Sweetie Poo", a young girl walking up to the lectern and repeatedly shouting "please stop, I am bored!". Here is a 10min example:
**Those familiar with the real Nobel Prizes will of course know that there is no Nobel Prize for Economics (just the Nobel Memorial Prize later funded by Sveriges Riksbank). Alfred Nobel apparently took a dim view of the Dismal Science (which the Igs gladly does not)
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References:
"A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian" Stephan A. Reber, Takeshi Nishimura, Judith Janisch, Mark Robertson, W. Tecumseh Fitch. Journal of Experimental Biology 2015 218: 2442-2447
"On the Rheology of Cats” Marc-Antoine Fardin, Rheology Bulletin, vol. 83, 2, July 2014, pp. 16-17 and 30
“The Brand Personality of Rocks: A Critical Evaluation of a Brand Personality Scale,” Mark Avis, Sarah Forbes ,and Shelagh Ferguson, Marketing Theory, vol. 14, no. 4, 2014, pp. 451-475.
What Doesn’t Kill You Will Only Make You More Risk-Loving: Early-Life Disasters and CEO Behavior,” Gennaro Bernile, Vineet Bhagwat, and P. Raghavendra Rau, accepted for publication in the Journal of Finance, 2015.
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