Ig Nobel prizes honor quirky science at Boston ceremony

BOSTON — The 35th Ig Nobel Prize ceremony honored researchers whose work ranges from the ridiculous to the whimsical, but organizers say the science behind the jokes often yields real insight. The event, held Thursday at Boston University, presented 10 award categories and is organized by the Annals of Improbable Research. Among the winners was a team from Japan that painted cows with zebra-like stripes to see if it reduces fly bites, a study one researcher described as blending curiosity with practical constraints. Winners receive a handmade model of a human stomach and, in a lighthearted nod to scientific achievement, a single hand wipe instead of a cash prize.

In addition to striped cows, the awards recognized work spanning language, physiology and daily life, including a European-led inquiry into whether alcohol can improve a person’s ability to speak a foreign language and a long-running study on fingernail growth. The ceremony’s master of ceremonies, Marc Abrahams, framed the event as a celebration of discoveries that may look odd at first glance but provoke further thought: “Every great discovery ever, at first glance seemed screwy and laughable. The same is true of every worthless discovery.” The laughter and curiosity were on full display as participants prepared for the traditional onstage moment. Tomoki Kojima, whose team taped and spray-painted cows with white stripes, spoke of the moment with a mixture of humor and pride as he stood in stripes on stage, surrounded by cardboard flies. “When I did this experiment, I hoped that I would win the Ig Nobel. It’s my dream. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable,” Kojima said.

The 35th ceremony, staged weeks before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, is known for its playful pageantry and satirical flair. The audience traditionally pelts the stage with paper airplanes, and this year’s show featured a mini-opera about gastroenterologists and their patients, punctuated by jokes about pizza and chili dogs as digestive themes. Several winners delivered brief, rapid explanations of their work during the “24-second lecture” segment, while others relied on onstage theatrics to illustrate their findings. One performer, for example, wore a chef’s outfit and fake mustache to celebrate the pasta-sauce study, while another dressed as a large mozzarella ball as wooden cookware clattered nearby.

Work recognized this year extended far beyond the cows and sauce. A multinational team from Europe explored the idea that alcohol can, in some circumstances, improve language fluency, a topic that drew chuckles while inviting reflection on how context and perception influence learning. A separate group examined fingernail growth to illuminate basic biology and developmental timing, underscoring the broad scope of research that the Ig Nobel prizes celebrate. Francisco Sanchez, a researcher from Colombia who participated in a separate project on the effects of alcohol on bats, explained that the awards acknowledge serious inquiry even when the findings seem humorous. “It’s a great honor for us,” he said, noting that the work demonstrates scientists can have fun while asking meaningful questions. “You can see that scientists are not really square and super serious and can have some fun while showing interesting science.”

Other winners hailed from India, the United States and Israel for studies as varied as the influence of foul-smelling shoes on experiences with a shoe rack, and examining whether consuming Teflon could influence food volume. One international team investigated whether giving alcohol to bats impaired their ability to fly, reporting that the bats’ flight and echolocation were affected in ways that mirrored human intoxication. “They actually got drunk similar to what happens to us,” Sanchez said, describing the bats’ slowed movements and impaired perception when ethanol was introduced.

The ceremony’s digestion theme tied together a string of acts, including a lighthearted miniature opera and a sequence of rapid, high-energy talks. Among the most animated moments was the European collaboration on pasta sauce, which featured participants playfully engaging a live audience with culinary attire and theatrical props while discussing physical properties like viscosity and surface tension. The event also featured a pair of remotely delivered speeches from Nobel laureates who could not attend in person, including Esther Duflo, whose participation underscored the seriousness with which the Ig Nobel prizes view curiosity-driven inquiry—even when it arrives in the form of a joke.

In addition to the entertainment value, organizers emphasized that the Ig Nobel Prizes are about inspiring curiosity and encouraging people to look more deeply at everyday phenomena. The jokes and pranks do not overshadow the underlying scientific methods, data collection and peer review that accompany the work, Abrahams noted in interviews ahead of the ceremony. The prizes, he said, aim to show that “everything that seems silly at first glance may contain a kernel of insight.”

The night concluded with a sense of warmth and mutual respect among researchers, laureates, and attendees, including several Nobel winners who joined in spirit from afar. The juxtaposition of whimsy and rigor embodies the Ig Nobel philosophy: celebrate curiosity, then ask questions, then think harder about how the world works. By presenting research in memorable, accessible ways, the Ig Nobel ceremony invites audiences to consider what counts as discovery and why it matters, regardless of how strange the initial idea may appear.

Ultimately, the event underscores a broader message about science: that serious work can coexist with humor, and that wonder—whether sparked by striped cows, flying bats or the physics of pasta sauce—can drive people to explore, question, and learn more about the world around them.