2008 IgNobel Prize Awards

The IgNobel Prizes are awarded to amusing, yet thought-provoking research. This year's awards ceremony took place on Thursday, October 2, 2008. Here's a run-down of the winners, starting (naturally) with the award in chemistry and then listed in no particular order:

• Chemistry - This year's prize was shared between two sets of winners: Sharee Umpierre, Joseph Hill and Deborah Anderson, for discovering that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide, and Chuang-Ye Hong, C.C. Shieh, P. Wu and B.N. Chiang for discovering that it is not. Definitely the scientific method at its finest. Congrats to all.

• Physics - Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith for mathematically demonstrating that heaps of hair or string or pretty much anything else will inevitably tangle themselves in knots. But you knew this...

• Economics - Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan for discovering that a lap dancer's ovulatory cycle affects her tip earnings. Interesting.

• Cognitive Science - Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Hiroyasu Yamada, Ryo Kobayashi, Atsushi Tero, Akio Ishiguro and Ágotá Tóth for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles. That's just scary.

• Nutrition - Massimiliano Zampini and Charles Spence for electronically modifying the sound a potato chip makes so the person chewing the chip believes it is crisper and fresher than it really is. You would think chewiness would be a giveaway that the chip is stale, but I guess not.

• Peace - The Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) and the citizens of Switzerland for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity. Well, yeah... of course they do.

• Archaeology - Astolfo G. Mello Araujo and José Carlos Marcelino for measuring how the actions of a live armadillo can scramble the contents of an archaeological dig. Kind of makes me wonder how much data gets interpreted incorrectly because of things like this.

• Biology - Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert and Michel Franc for discovering that the fleas living on a dog can jump higher than the fleas living on a cat. I didn't check the reference, but I wonder if that is fleas of the same species or whether it's that the usual species on a dog jumps higher than the species on a cat (which is a smaller type of flea). It's sad that I know that, I realize.

• Medicine - Dan Ariely for demonstrating that high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine. You get what you pay for, right?