The dirtiest money and magnetized cockroaches: who and for what received the Shnobel Prize-2019

The 29 Snobel Prize ceremony was held on September 12 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard University. As usual, 10 scientific works with amusing names and non-obvious practical applications became its laureates. Writes about this with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

The prize is awarded to research that, as stated in the prize's charter, “makes you first smile and then think.”

At the same time, the prize is awarded by real Nobel laureates. This year it was Eric Maskin, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007, Rich Roberts (1993, medicine and physiology) and Jerome Friedman (1990, physics).

The founder of the award, the editor of AIR magazine (Annals of Incredible Research) and the permanent host of the Ig Nobel ceremony, Marc Abrahams, every year turns the award into a comedy show with elements of the absurd on a specific topic. This year's theme is “Habits.”

On the subject: How in the USA they make figurines for TEFI - the main prize of Russian television

The trophy itself, awarded to the laureates, looked accordingly: in an uncomplicated art installation, you can see a coffee cup, a pack of chewing gum, a cigarette, a toothbrush and several other items symbolizing certain habits.

It came with a diploma and a cash prize of 10 trillion dollars. True, the dollars were Zimbabwean and were issued in one piece of paper; the cost of such a reward was 40 US cents.

New Laureates

It turns out that if you magnetize dead cockroaches, they retain their magnetic properties much longer than living insects. This surprising conclusion was reached by an entire international team of scientists from six countries - Singapore, China, Australia, Poland, the USA and Bulgaria.

The scientific work, “Biomagnetic Characteristics of Living American Cockroaches,” written as a result of this fascinating study, was awarded the 2019 Ig Nobel Prize in the Biology category.

On the subject: The discovery of world significance: in Israel, doctors have grown a man a new leg

In the Physics category, the prize was awarded to a study on why (and most importantly, how!) wombats poop in cubes.

Among the many authors of this international work were a pair of scientists from Taiwan who became Ig Nobel laureates for the second time - the first time in the almost 30-year history of the award.

Patricia Yang and David Hu received their first Shnobel Prize in 2015 for a study that proved that the duration of urination in all mammals is approximately the same and is approximately 21 second.

The medical prize was given to the Italian Silvano Galos, who proved that eating pizza helps maintain health and reduce the risk of death from digestive cancer - but only if this pizza is prepared in Italy.

Scientists from the Netherlands won the “Economy” category, studying the currencies of different countries in search of an answer to the question of which country’s banknotes best tolerate pathogenic bacteria. It turned out that the dirtiest paper money is used in Romania.

On the subject: Sensational discovery: American scientists overcome HIV

A study that showed how to teach medical students using sounds commonly used to train dogs, such as tongue clicking, won a medical education award. The article is called: “Training the conditioned reflex during orthopedic operations.”

The announcement of the laureate in anatomy caused particular laughter in the hall. French researchers studied "temperature asymmetry of the scrotum in naked and clothed people." It turned out that the left testicle is usually warmer than the right - but only if the man is wearing clothes.

The prize in the field of engineering went to the Iranian scientist Iman Farabakhsh, who patented the apparatus for changing diapers.

In the Chemistry category, the Ig Nobel Prize went to a Japanese professor who calculated the amount of saliva secreted daily by the average five-year-old child. As the scientist himself said, he conducted the experiment on his children: he weighed bananas, gave them to his three sons to chew thoroughly, and weighed the chewed mass again. It turned out that a five-year-old child secretes about half a liter of saliva per day.

On the subject: How optimism affects life expectancy: research by scientists

And finally, a peace prize went to a team of scientists from Britain and Singapore for trying to measure and compare the amount of pleasure a person gets when he manages to scratch a particular itchy place. It turned out that scratching your ankle and back is a lot nicer than wrist.

Presenter Mark Abrahams ended the ceremony with the traditional wish: “If you didn’t win the Ig Nobel Prize this year, and especially if you did, I hope you have better luck next year.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

Women who changed the world

American doctor received the Nobel Prize for cancer treatment

Harvard, HBO, Oscar nomination and friendship with Portman: as an immigrant from Belarus embodies the American dream

How did cherry tomatoes appear?

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.