We’ve all heard of The Nobel Peace prize and the Nobel Literature prize, Science, and Medicine prizes. Well, this episode has absolutely nothing to do with any of that!

But! If you come up with an idea that is an unusual or trivial or a bizarre achievement in scientific research, well then…we have an award for you. It’s called the Ig Nobel Prize, and anyone can win it, if their idea makes you laugh…and then… makes you think! Really, no really!

The Prize was created by today’s guest, Marc Abrahams who has awarded it annually since 1991. And the awards are handed out annually by genuine Nobel laureates, as they honor and celebrate the unusual, the creative and the imaginative… while also spurring people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

So be prepared to learn about woodpeckers and concussions, an unusual childbirth device and the importance of fish farts. That’s right… fish farts!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The unbelievable way Marc first became editor of a scientific magazine.
• Amusing inventors & scientists doing obscure, yet noble things should be honored. Right?
• The scientists who defied a Prime Minister and proved the impending submarine invasion was not happening.
• Meet the guy who studied whether gonorrhea could be transmitted by sex dolls.
• Colonoscopy researchers won the Ig Nobel twice and performed a live on-stage demonstration you won’t believe.
• The Blonsky centrifugal birthing device will defy your understanding of natural childbirth.
• Why don’t woodpeckers get concussions and how that applies to football.
• Your foot size to genitalia size ratio is… real?
• Jason has some “genius ideas” he thinks should win an Ig Nobel.
• The small but notable list of inventors who were killed by their inventions.
• GOOGLEHEIM: Have any nobility won the Nobel Prize? Yep!

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FOLLOW MARC:

Website – Improbable.com

Ig Nobel Prize 2024

Mastodon - @MarcAbrams

Facebook - Marc Abrahams

Podcast – Improbable Research

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