They actually give research grants for THIS?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

http://www.ignobel.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2007

I'm totally speechless . . . . and that takes a lot.

What gives?

[AnaKhouri]

My husband is a biochemist. Last time I tried to make him laugh with me over the IgNobel prizes, he gave me a very stern look. Basic research is the most important thing in science, he said, and he will never make fun of another scientist's research because you never know what wider applications it will have.

I still laugh at some of the stuff people research, but he made me think.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

CHEMISTRY: Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan, for developing a way to extract vanillin -- vanilla fragrance and flavoring -- from cow dung.

PEACE: The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA, for instigating research & development on a chemical weapon -- the so-called "gay bomb" -- that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other.

What happened to the joke that was so funny, it caused people to die laughing?

NUTRITION: Brian Wansink of Cornell University, for exploring the seemingly boundless appetites of human beings, by feeding them with a self-refilling, bottomless bowl of soup.

The test subjects did have access to a bathroom, right?

Heh, reminds me of a joke:
"What did you have for breakfast?" "Pea soup"
"What did you have for lunch?" "Pea soup."
"What did you have for dinner?" "Pea soup."
"What did you do all night?" "Pee soup."

[Banrion]

"The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology."

I also know that the synopsis of the research is very glossed over, and often more comedic than the actual research itself. I know this because I know one of this years recipients, and while yes, he did do some research including a bottomless bowl of soup, the purpose of his research is psychological effects on eating, and included many many other experiments to determine how a person decides what a portion is, and what to eat.

[DarthRetard]

NUTRITION: Wasmia Al-Houty of Kuwait University and Faten Al-Mussalam of the Kuwait Environment Public Authority, for showing that dung beetles are finicky eaters.
REFERENCE: "Dung Preference of the Dung Beetle Scarabaeus cristatus Fab (Coleoptera-Scarabaeidae) from Kuwait," Wasmia Al-Houty and Faten Al-Musalam, Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 35, no. 3, 1997, pp. 511-6.

Heh, that one still has me giggling like an idiot.

[Killer Bees]

Extracting vanillin from cow dung? I didn't know cows liked ice cream and candy

[Caveat Emptor]

Happy cows, maybe?

[Cia]

^ Wisconsin cows - according to the commercials that is

[DGoddessChardonnay]

^ Wisconsin cows - according to the commercials that is

If I recall correctly, Happy Cows come from California.

If that's the case, then all the ones I've seen around here look kinda sad . . .could you imagine the newest California Dairy commercials?

Happy Cows come from California
Depressed Cows come from North Carolina.

Or something to that effect . . .

[hecubus]

I just heard about two new studies that came out recently. The first determined that different types of foods can affect your mood and your feelings in different ways, for example, protein can give you energy, carbs can be relaxing, etc.

The other found that "Energy Drinks" that are high in sugar and caffeine can lead to increased heart rate and high blood pressure.

I believe both are going to be published in an article entitled, "Well, DUH!"

[iradney]

NUTRITION: Brian Wansink of Cornell University, for exploring the seemingly boundless appetites of human beings, by feeding them with a self-refilling, bottomless bowl of soup.



The test subjects did have access to a bathroom, right?

I actually have a book of his (Mindless Eating) where he quotes that study.
Nope, he didn't attach a funnel to their mouths and force feed em, but he actually saw that people eat more if there's more to offer. So people who had a normal bowl of soup only had eg 200 mls of soup. Those who had the refilling one (hidden by placing a tube in the bottom of the bowl and convoluted mechanical stuff) ate nearly twice as much.
Pretty interesting stuff!