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“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but, ‘That’s funny…” —Isaac Asimov

Have you ever read an article regarding scientific research about something that is seemingly unlikely and possibly worthless?  If so, it is important to point out that many have a large budget to conduct research on these types of topics that they spend years investigating.

What kind of prize would you give to these people?  It is actually called The Ig® Nobel Prize and it has been organized by an organization called Improbable Research since 1991.  This foundation gives awards to scientific researchers who “first make us laugh and then think”.  On their official website they explain that the goal is to motivate curiosity and make us ask ourselves how does one decide what is important and what is not, what is real and what is not, be it science or any other field.

The prizes are awarded at a ceremony at Harvard University and they are given out by real Nobel Prize winners.  Then, the winners are invited to give a lecture at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) detailing their work.

Some of the winners of the 2009 award include:

- Public Health Prize: Dr. Elena Bodnar for inventing a bra that, in case of emergency, can become a face mask (each bra can be used by two people).

Dr. Elena Bodnar accepting her award.

- Chemistry Prize: Javier Morales, Miguel Apática and Victor Castaño from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for transforming liquid into diamonds, specifically with tequila.

- Veterinary Medicine Prize: Catherine Douglas and Peter Wowlinson from the University of Newcastle in the UK, for proving that cows that are given a name produce more milk than those without names.

- Peace Prize:  S. Bollinger, S. Ross, L. Oesterhelweg, M. Tahalí and B. Kneubuehl from the University of Bern in Switzerland, for determining by testing if it is better to be hit in the head with an empty bottle or a full one.

- Literature Prize: Went to the Irish Polish for giving out more than 50 traffic tickets to the person with the most tickets in the country, Prado Jazy, which in Polish means “Driver’s License”.

Educaedu would like to applaud all the winners.  Congratulations.

Tags: Harvard University, Ireland, Mexico, MIT, Nobel Prize, UK, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México