Scientists often enquire the of import questions , such as how does hold a crocodile strike your gambling odds , or do old citizenry really have bigger ears ? Now , these weird , hilarious , and more often than not entrancing studies have been celebrated once again at the yearlyIg Nobel Awards .
submit place this twelvemonth in Cambridge , Massachusetts , thehighlights from this yearinclude how khat behave as both a solid and liquid , that playing a didgeridoo aid reduce saw logs , and that identical Twin frequently find it a challenge to tell each other apart in photo .
The 27th annual booty ceremony aims to highlight inquiry that “ first makes you laugh , then makes you think . ” The traditionally bonkers jubilation of all things gloriously eccentric – but crucially scientific – include the usually hail of newspaper airplanes , as well as actual Nobel laureate give out the awards .
The prize for cathartic this year croak to a field seem into the rheology of cats , and argued that moggies can technically be thought of as both a solid and a liquidness as they are able to take on the shape of whatever container they decide to curl up in . divertingly , the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was given to researchers who found that play the didgeridoo helps relieve sleep apnea , as it requires the player to direct circular external respiration that helps strengthen the muscle in the throat .
Many of the part of enquiry honored by the honour ceremonial might at first seem wholly chiropteran shit and off the paries , but then when you empathize the processes behind them , they often abruptly make sense and have exonerated practical applications .
The Ig Nobel Prize for Economics this twelvemonth , for exercise , was awarded to a pair of Australians for their work assessing how hold a live crocodile impacts your play achiever . They institute that mass require to hold a 1 - meter ( 3.3 - substructure ) brine crocodile just before they put their bets were more likely to lose more money than those who passed on a reptilian snuggle .
It turns out that the fervor hasten from hugging the croc led to masses with pre - existing gambling problems to bet more , which over the foresighted run intend that they then lean to drop off more . “ This was the first study to essay the aroused impact of agitation on gaming choices , which has obvious benefits toward addressing a very serious behavioral and genial wellness trouble , ” winning research worker Matthew Rocklofftold AP .
So next time you see a field of study that makes you imagine “ hoi polloi are funding this ? ! ” , retrieve that it might have some more significant program , and that it might one twenty-four hour period be in the run for an Ig Nobel Award .
