Moose Mannequin and Mayan Ritual Enemas: 2022 Ig Nobel Prize Winners Announced

September 15th passed 32nd Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. The event was held online. The winners received prizes for the most seemingly useless discoveries in ten categories.

The purpose of the Shnobelevka is to popularize serious science. The winners receive a diploma and a 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note that has gone out of circulation, which must be downloaded and printed. Also, the Ig Nobel Prize winners are awarded paper cylinders, which symbolize the "container for storing knowledge."

Applied Cardiology

The main prize in this nomination went to a group of scientists from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and Aruba, who figured outPhysiological synchrony is associated with attraction in a blind date setting / Nature Human Behaviorthat the heartbeat of people in love is synchronized.

Literature

Researchers from Canada, USA, UK and Australia received first prize for analysisPoor Writing, Not Specialized Concepts, Drives Processing Difficulty in Legal Language / Cognition

factors that make reading legal documents too difficult for the average person.

art history

The prize went to scientists from the Netherlands, Guatemala, the USA and Austria, who exploredA Multidisciplinary Approach to Ritual Enema Scenes on Ancient Maya Pottery / Journal of Ethnopharmacology scenes of ritual enemas on Maya ceramic artifacts.

Biology

The winners in this category were scientists from Brazil and Colombia, who identifiedShort- and long-term effects of an extreme case of autotomy: does “tail” loss and subsequent constipation decrease the locomotor performance of male and female scorpions? / Integrative Zoologyhow constipation affects the reproduction of scorpions.

Medicine

Experts from Poland won, who establishedIce-Cream Used as Cryotherapy During High-Dose Melphalan Conditioning Reduces Oral Mucositis After Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Scientific Reportsthat chemotherapy becomes less painful if one of the components of the therapy is replaced with ice cream.

Engineering

The first place was taken by Japanese researchers who figured outHow to Use Fingers during Rotary Control of Columnar Knobs / Bulletin of Japanese Society for the Science of Design the most efficient hand movement to turn a doorknob.

Technical security

The winners in the nomination were engineers from Sweden, who developedMoose Crash Test Dummy / Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute and tested a moose crash test dummy.

Physics

Gold dividedEnergy Conservation by Formation Swimming: Metabolic Evidence from Duckling / Mechanics and Physiology of Animal Swimming, 1994, pp. 193-204. two groups of physicists from China, the UK, Turkey and the US, who identifiedWave-Riding and Wave-Passing by Ducklings in Formation Swimming / Journal of Fluid Mechanicshow ducklings manage to swim in an even formation.

Peace Prize

Scientists from China, Hungary, Canada, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Switzerland and the United States received first place for CreationHonesty and Dishonesty in Gossip Strategies: A Fitness Interdependence Analysis / Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B an algorithm that tells gossipers when to tell the truth.

Economy

The award went to researchers from Italy who amounted totalent vs. Luck: The Role of Randomness in Success and Failure / Advances in Complex Systems a mathematical model that explains that not talented people become successful, but lucky ones.