"Does alcohol enhance one's foreign language fluency? Do West African lizards have a preferred pizza topping? And can painting cows with zebra stripes help repel biting flies? These and other unusual research questions were honored tonight in a virtual ceremony to announce the 2025 recipients of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes. Yes, it's that time of year again, when the serious and the silly converge-for science."
"Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes; they honor "achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think." The unapologetically campy awards ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds and the second in just seven words. Acceptance speeches are limited to 60 seconds."
The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes celebrated unusual but scientifically grounded research through a virtual ceremony combining humor and scholarship. The event featured miniature operas, scientific demonstrations, and 24/7 lectures requiring two terse explanations: one in 24 seconds and one in seven words. Acceptance speeches were limited to 60 seconds. Winners will provide free public talks that will be posted on the Improbable Research website. Honored projects ranged from experiments testing whether zebra-like striping on cows reduces fly bites to studies on alcohol and language fluency, West African lizard preferences, and other unconventional questions.
Read at WIRED
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