I don't know if you've been keeping track, but the 2010 Ig Noble awards have been given out to scientiests for serious research in such important fields as
- proving roller coaster rides improve asthma sufferers condition
- collecting whale snot with a remote heliopter
- using your bra as an emergency gas mask
- swearing eases the pain of such incidents as hitting your thumb with a hammer
- slime mold can be used to study rail road tracks
- promoting employees randomly increases company efficiency(*)
- men with beards have a higher risk in laboratories
- water and oil do mix
- how to improve the sex life of a bat
The awards were given out by Noble Prize winners in variuos fields.
They received prizes running into the 10's of trillions of dollars (yes, trillions - Zimbabwe dollars(**))
(*) when you think about it, promoting randomly makes a lot of sense because there are no "top" performers. Everyone has an equal chance so they try harder.
(**) At the beginning of 2009, the exchange rate for a Zimbabwe dollar war something on the order of 300, 000,000,000,000 (14 zeroes) or 300 trillion to one US dollar, so total prize money was on the order of $30.
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