The Most Thought-Provoking Ig Nobel (Improbable Research) Prize Winners

Ig Nobel prizes are annually presented to scientists and scientific research that may be a bit odd, at first glance, but then, makes people think, "Hey, that is a really thought-provoking idea!" For a comprehensive account on all past winners, you can visit Improbable Research.

1. How to not spill your morning coffee.

Via Physical Review E

Hans C. Mayer and Rouslan Krechetnikov wrote about and tested the physics of how not to spill your morning coffee. Test subjects walked in a straight line with a cup of coffee as scientists observed the fluid dynamics of what was happening with the coffee in the mug as well as how the human subject moved. Mayer and Krechetnikov came to the conclusion that if you accelerate slowly, fill your cup up less, and, above all, watch your cup as you walk, you should have less overall spillage in your life. Now, you can sleep well, knowing that tomorrow morning's outfit, car upholstery, and dog will be coffee-stain free!

2. Having a strong urge to pee affects your decision-making skills.

Via Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

In a research paper by Mirjam A. Tuk, Debra Trampe and Luk Warlop, it was determined that an urgency to urinate can improve a person's ability to name certain colors but can have detrimental effect on someone's vocabulary recollection. As well, a person with better bladder control tends to make wiser money-spending and -saving choices.

3. There is an wasabi-odor fire alarm.

Via Google Patents

Hideaki Goto, Tomo Sakai, Koichiro Mizoguchi, Yukinobu Tajima, and Makoto Imai explain what is the adequate amount of wasabi odor (smells like horseradish) needed to wake someone up in case of an emergency. They filed a patent for an alarm that produces odor, instead of sound, to alert people that something has gone awry. A huge benefit of this invention is its ability to alert the deaf of an emergency.

4. A city's illegally-parked car problems can be solved with an armored tank.

youtube.com / Via Youtube

The mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, Arturas Zuokas, demonstrated that the instances of illegally-parked luxury cars would decrease if he was to set an example out of a few law violators by crushing their cars with an armored tank.

5. Businesses would run smoother if employees were promoted randomly.

arxiv.org / Via Physica A

Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo conducted a management study, discovering that organizations would be more organized and effective if people were rewarded in an unplanned manner, according to an employee's competence. Meaning, only promoting the best members of a company could lead to an efficiency decrease.

6. Wearing socks on the outside of your shoes during winter can reduce falls.

journal.nzma.org.nz / Via The New Zealand Medical Journal

Lianne Parkin, Sheila M Williams, and Patricia Priest experimented with 30 people, some wearing fitted socks over their shoes and others not, as they walked down an icy slope. Results revealed that wearing fitted socks can significantly reduce falls in icy conditions.

7. Cows, which are given names, will produce more milk than those not given names.

ingentaconnect.com / Via Ingenta Connect

Catherine Bertenshaw and Peter Rowlinson discovered that cows would, on average, yield 258 liters more milk when they were identified as an individual, strengthening the idea the the animal-human relationship can have a strong influence on emotions as well as economics.

8. Knuckle-cracking does not lead to arthritis.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com / Via Wiley Online Library

Donald Unger destroyed the age-old myth that knuckle-cracking would lead to arthritis with his study, “Does Knuckle Cracking Lead to Arthritis of the Fingers?” For five decades, Unger cracked the knuckles only on his left hand about a couple times a day, leaving his right hand as a control. Both hands remained in similar condition after the 50-year study.

9. Dog fleas have more pep in their step than cat fleas.

sciencedirect.com / Via Science Direct

Marie-Christine Cadierguesa, Christel Jouberta, and Michel Franc reported about a 8-centimeter jump height difference between dog and cat fleas, with dog fleas, no pun intended, coming out on top.

10. It is just as easy to swim in syrup as it is to swim in water.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com / Via Wiley Online Journal

Brian Gettelfinger and Edward L. Cussler compared the swimming times of 16 different participants, professional and recreational, while they swam in water and then, in a substance twice as thick as water. Results revealed only a 4% difference maximum; no one liquid produced better swimming times.

11. Focusing on one task can disallow us to notice another very conspicuous event.

wjh.harvard.edu / Via Perception

Daniel J Simons and Christopher F Chabris conducted a psychological experiment on selective attention, and found out that a heavy focus on one event or task can make people blind to other incidents, which are much more blatant, such as a gorilla walking through a business lobby.

12. Avoid being pummeled by your shower curtain by getting a heavier one.

scientificamerican.com / Via Scientific American

David Schmidt modeled the shower-curtain effect, also known as when a shower curtain becomes sucked into the shower, on his computer, and learned that the main solution to dispelling the effect would be to get a heavier curtain or shower door. Well, you could also leave a crack open to relieve the pressure, but then you would be subject to cold, frigid air.