It seems a little early in the calendar for this, but the 2022 Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced by those wacky scientists that run the Annals of Improbable Research (not quite as prestigious as the Swedish Academy, but one must take what one can get). The announcement and ceremony for the Ig Nobels seem to be timed just before the announcements for actual Nobel Prizes. The motto of the Ig Nobel Prizes is “For achievements that first make people LAUGH, then make them THINK. All of the prizes are for published research (though there are two exceptions from the early history of the prizes). This link will take you to the full list of all the Ig Nobel Prizes ever awarded, as well as video recordings for the awards ceremonies for most years. This year’s awards ceremony can be viewed below (it was virtual—somebody’s still taking COVID-19 seriously).
We’ll get to the actual awards, as well as tonight’s comments, below the fold, but first, here’s a word from our sponsor:
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
The 2022 Ig Nobel Prizes:
APPLIED CARDIOLOGY PRIZE [CZECH REPUBLIC, THE NETHERLANDS, UK, SWEDEN, ARUBA]
Eliska Prochazkova, Elio Sjak-Shie, Friederike Behrens, Daniel Lindh, and Mariska Kret, for seeking and finding evidence that when new romantic partners meet for the first time, and feel attracted to each other, their heart rates synchronize.
Reference
LITERATURE PRIZE [CANADA, USA, UK, AUSTRALIA]
Eric Martínez, Francis Mollica, and Edward Gibson, for analyzing what makes legal documents unnecessarily difficult to understand.
Reference
BIOLOGY PRIZE [BRAZIL, COLOMBIA]
Solimary García-Hernández and Glauco Machado, for studying whether and how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions.
Reference 1; Reference 2; Reference 3
MEDICINE PRIZE [POLAND]
Marcin Jasiński, Martyna Maciejewska, Anna Brodziak, Michał Górka, Kamila Skwierawska, Wiesław Jędrzejczak, Agnieszka Tomaszewska, Grzegorz Basak, and Emilian Snarski, for showing that when patients undergo some forms of toxic chemotherapy, they suffer fewer harmful side effects when ice cream replaces one traditional component of the procedure.
Reference
ENGINEERING PRIZE [JAPAN]
Gen Matsuzaki, Kazuo Ohuchi, Masaru Uehara, Yoshiyuki Ueno, and Goro Imura, for trying to discover the most efficient way for people to use their fingers when turning a knob.
Reference (in Japanese)
ART HISTORY PRIZE [THE NETHERLANDS, GUATAMALA, USA, AUSTRIA]
Peter de Smet and Nicholas Hellmuth, for their study “A Multidisciplinary Approach to Ritual Enema Scenes on Ancient Maya Pottery.”
Reference
PHYSICS PRIZE [CHINA, UK, TURKEY, USA] [AWARDED JOINTLY TO TWO GROUPS]
Frank Fish, Zhi-Ming Yuan, Minglu Chen, Laibing Jia, Chunyan Ji, and Atilla Incecik, for trying to understand how ducklings manage to swim in formation.
Reference 1; Reference 2
PEACE PRIZE [CHINA, HUNGARY, CANADA, THE NETHERLANDS, UK, ITALY, AUSTRALIA, SWITZERLAND, USA]
Junhui Wu, Szabolcs Számadó, Pat Barclay, Bianca Beersma, Terence Dores Cruz, Sergio Lo Iacono, Annika Nieper, Kim Peters, Wojtek Przepiorka, Leo Tiokhin and Paul Van Lange, for developing an algorithm to help gossipers decide when to tell the truth and when to lie.
Reference
ECONOMICS PRIZE [ITALY]
Alessandro Pluchino, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, and Andrea Rapisarda, for explaining, mathematically, why success most often goes not to the most talented people, but instead to the luckiest. [Editor’s note: Who could have guessed?]
Reference
SAFETY ENGINEERING PRIZE [SWEDEN]
Magnus Gens, for developing a moose crash test dummy.
Reference
As a chemist, I’m somewhat disappointed that there was no chemistry prize this year. Seriously, was there no research related to chemistry that couldn’t raise a guffaw? SAD!
And now, for tonight’s comments:
Top Comments (September 29, 2022):
From dabug:
A great long comment by IreGyre on Ukraine's great virtue of patience. Well worth a read, especially when you're getting antsy and wishing things would hurry up and resolve themselves… From kos’ front-page Ukraine update this morning.
From belinda ridgewood:
In Hunter's diary about the failing company that puts on Trump rallies, everyone could agree that Trump is a horrible person, but jubal8 offered a perfect way of putting it.
Highlighted by genuinemoderate:
This comment by BADGERALUM in Ian Reifowitz’ recommended post regarding the conservatives’ semantic shell-game on whether our nation is a “democracy” or a “republic.”
Top Mojo (September 28, 2022):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (September 28, 2022):
Thanks to jotter (RIP) for creating it and elfling for restoring it.