
2020 Ig Nobel Prize Winners - xingyzt
https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/
======
amrx101
PEACE PRIZE [INDIA, PAKISTAN] The governments of India and Pakistan, for
having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other’s doorbells in the
middle of the night, and then run away before anyone had a chance to answer
the door. REFERENCE: Numerous news reports.

~~~
Ice_cream_suit
Sadly, that is more constructive than the actions of one of the current
nominees for the real Nobel Peace Prize, which has drifted into self parody.

~~~
wodenokoto
Nominations aren’t really to be taken seriously.

It’s a pretty wide spectrum of people who can nominate and anyone they
nominate is a nominee.

Also there are no confirmed nominees.

And just say president Trump if that’s what you are referring to. He’s not
Voldemort. You can say his name.

[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/](https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/)

~~~
saeranv
It's a funny side-effect of the HN "rule" against engaging in politics. We
still talk politics, but must mention He Who Must Not Be Named obliquely.

ETA: Oh no.. it didn't work. I'm being downvoted :)

~~~
pc86
There are plenty of political discussions on HN. Many of them with no relevant
technical data or discussion.

But reading people dance around the topic they really mean to be talking about
is exhausting.

------
Cactus2018
On nearly every morning's dogwalk, I think the 2014 Ig Nobel BIOLOGY PRIZE is
bunk.

> for carefully documenting that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer
> to align their body axis with Earth’s north-south geomagnetic field lines.

And that this study must be flawed, because my dog (n=1) does not align.

Maybe the research study area was a city with a strong North-South
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_plan)

~~~
sasaf5
Ah~~ so that's why dogs walk many tight circles before defecating? They are
finding north? :)

~~~
dtech
That's to survey the surrounding area for dangers

~~~
sasaf5
Makes sense, they also do that before sleeping.

------
malwarebytess
Full-text papers for the curious.

ACOUSTICS PRIZE:
[PDF]([https://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/218/15/2442.full.p...](https://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/218/15/2442.full.pdf))

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE: [PDF]([https://sci-
hub.tw/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/1...](https://sci-
hub.tw/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12396))

PHYSICS PRIZE:
[HTML]([https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65295-4](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65295-4))

ECONOMICS PRIZE:
[HTML]([https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43267-7](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43267-7))

MANAGEMENT PRIZE: [HTML, CHINESE]([https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ibIkZBbnZb-
menl7Xv4FAQ](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ibIkZBbnZb-menl7Xv4FAQ)) [HTML,
ENGLISH}([https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmp.weixin.qq.com%2Fs%2FibIkZBbnZb-
menl7Xv4FAQ))

ENTOMOLOGY PRIZE: [PDF]([https://sci-
hub.tw/https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/59/3/...](https://sci-
hub.tw/https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/59/3/168/6813))

MEDICINE PRIZE: [PDF,
1]([https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/jo...](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0054706&type=printable))
[PDF, 2]([https://sci-
hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...](https://sci-
hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032716321681?via%3Dihub))

MATERIALS SCIENCE PRIZE: [PDF]([https://sci-
hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...](https://sci-
hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X19305371?via%3Dihub))

------
jwilk
"Hitman hires hitman who hires hitman who hires hitman who hires hitman who
tells police" discussed on HN:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21361849](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21361849)
(240 comments)

~~~
disown
The wonders of subcontracting. It would have been even better if the 5th
hitman hired the 1st hitman to create a loop.

~~~
nevi-me
Interestingly, that's how the monetary system flows. I give you 1'000, you
keep giving it to other people, eventually back to me. if no reserve limit [1]
is placed, we could end up with millions from that 1'000.

[1] [https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/67/money/money-
multiplier...](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/67/money/money-multiplier-
and-reserve-ratio-in-us/)

------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
> NOTE: This is the second Ig Nobel Prize awarded to Alexander Lukashenko. In
> the year 2013, the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Alexander
> Lukashenko, for making it illegal to applaud in public, AND to the Belarus
> State Police, for arresting a one-armed man for applauding.

------
stepanhruda
> Experimental replication shows knives manufactured from frozen human feces
> do not work

Now that’s some solid science!

~~~
ekianjo
This one deserves a special prize indeed.

Solid science though? Not solid enough to cut with it, apparently.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
It was solid, but not sharply detailed.

on edit: ok it wasn't exactly solid either, but who am I to waste a line.

------
dash2
I noticed one from 2019 on measuring whether banknotes transmit harmful
bacteria. Doesn’t seem so weird in 2020!

~~~
Rebelgecko
2009 also had a prescient one: the bra that can convert into two face masks

~~~
mkl
Thanks. I missed the "2009" and wondered why Paul Krugman (right) was wearing
his mask so incorrectly.

------
ashleshbiradar
Times of India, the most popular english daily in India, removed Narendra
Modi's name when mentioning about the Medical Education Category
[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-
world/poop...](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/poop-
knives-arachnophobic-entomologists-win-ig-nobels/articleshow/78198176.cms)

both in print and digital.

------
mlthoughts2018
As a person who suffers badly from misophonia (which is not limited to chewing
sounds) it’s pretty fucking grimly depressing to see research on it treated
this way.

~~~
stonogo
You have a problem with scientists raising awareness of research into a
condition which affects you?

Why?

~~~
mlthoughts2018
As mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the Ig Nobel Prize,

> “the Ig Nobel Awards are veiled criticism of trivial research”

It’s not raising awareness. It’s making light of the underlying concerns and
trivializing them.

Misophonia isn’t trivial to me. It’s a significant disorder that makes my life
challenging.

It’s deeply upsetting that the Ig Nobel committee would view it as within the
purview of their award designations.

~~~
sellyme
As mentioned on Improbable Research's website:

> We collect improbable research. Real research, about anything and
> everything, from everywhere. Research that’s maybe good or bad, important or
> trivial, valuable or worthless.

There's typically a few serious research papers included each year.

~~~
me_me_me
In all fairness there was a prize for research about cows caloric intake based
on amount light and temperature or something like that.

It sound stupid, but this research was used by farmers to plan amount of food
and condition for cows during winter.

So just because the research topic sounds funny it doesn't meant that it is
useless.

------
smitty1110
Thanks OP, I needed that. After all the depressing stuff in my life these past
few months, it was nice to feel amused enough to genuinely laugh out loud.

------
spodek
> MEDICAL EDUCATION PRIZE ... Bolsonaro, Johnson, Modi, Trump, Putin, et al.
> for using the Covid-19 viral pandemic to teach the world that politicians
> can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and
> doctors can.

We shouldn't consider this result news nor funny. The pattern has been
happening with the environment for decades.

I suggest we should use it as motivation for scientists and doctors to learn
leadership skills, recognizing that humans don't just respond to facts and
figures. Like it or not, we respond to stories, images, community,
personality, and so on. We aren't likely going to lead Trump to learn science
so if we want science in our leadership, we'll have to take the initiative.

~~~
srtjstjsj
The pandemic is pretty big news.

The environment is not an immediate effect.

~~~
spodek
> _The environment is not an immediate effect._

Every Day 10,000 People Die Due To Air Pollution From Fossil Fuels:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2020/03/10/every-
da...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2020/03/10/every-
day-10000-people-die-due-to-air-pollution-from-fossil-fuels/#37962a102b6a)

WHO reveals 7 million die from pollution each year in latest global air
quality figures: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-
people...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-
people/estimates-7-million-die-pollution-year-reveals-latest-global)

------
varjag
The prize is a bit of pop culture anti-intellectualism bullshit.

I've used one of the famous former winners ("Psychoacoustics of a chilling
sound") with relation to work. Solid paper studying real phenomenon.

~~~
feoren
What? In what way is the prize anti-intellectual? They're celebrating real
science being done in fringe or curious areas. Aren't most/all of their
winners "solid papers studying real phenomena"?

------
samdung
While we are here, do not forget the new Toohey Awards.
[https://tooheys.org/](https://tooheys.org/)

~~~
wodenokoto
> You may consider The Toohey Award something similar to the Ig Nobel Prize.
> The public may safely disregard any article ever written, present-and-
> future, by a Toohey Award winner. [1]

There is absolutely no discrediting of scientists related to the Ig Nobel
prize. Its stated aim being to "honor achievements that first make people
laugh, and then make them think." [2]

The Tooheys is an attempt at discrediting individual journalist. There is
absolutely no spiritual relationship between the two.

[1] [https://tooheys.org/](https://tooheys.org/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize)

~~~
makomk
I don't think this year's "Medical Education Prize" is achieving anything like
that, though - it's pushing a bunch of narratives that everyone's expected to
believe despite having an extremely weak foundation in reality, in an area
where the very concept of prioritizing scientific evidence over politics has
been twisted into a partisan political tool so throughly I'm not sure there's
any way back, never mind the evidence itself.

