Pigeon-Guided Missiles, Dead Fish Swimming Ability Studies Among Ig Nobles Winners

A study into the feasibility of using pigeons to guide rockets and a study into the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes, the awards for humorous scientific achievements.

Less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the website of the journal Annals of Improbable Research to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historical items related to Murphy’s Law, the theme of the evening, and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Real Nobel laureates presented the winners with their prizes.

“While some politicians tried to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make perfect sense,” said Marc Abrahams, the magazine’s master of ceremonies and editor, in an email interview.

The ceremony began with Kees Moliker, winner of the 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving safety instructions. His award was for a study documenting the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallards.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

Then someone came on stage with a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask, and they were quickly swarmed by people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then the awards ceremonies began — several boring presentations interrupted by a girl who came onstage and repeatedly shouted, “Please stop. I’m bored.” The awards ceremony was also interrupted by an international song competition inspired by Murphy’s Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

Winners were honored in 10 categories, including peace and anatomy. They included scientists who showed that a vine from Chile mimics the shapes of nearby artificial plants, and another study that examined whether the hair on the heads of people in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as the hair of someone in the Southern Hemisphere.

Other winners included a group of scientists who showed that fake drugs with side effects can be more effective than fake drugs without. Also, a group of scientists showed that some mammals can breathe through their anus. These winners took to the stage wearing a hat inspired by fish.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon rocket study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally recognizing his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for setting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, received the physics award for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I found that a live fish moved more than a dead fish, but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout dragged behind a stick also beats its tail to the beat of the current, just like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, and in doing so, it captures the energy of its surroundings. A dead fish does things that you would do with a live fish.”

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