Ig Nobels Honor Quirky Scientific Advances

The 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony celebrated unconventional scientific achievements, such as guiding missiles with pigeons and studying dead fish swimming abilities. Held at MIT, the event, organized by Annals of Improbable Research, encourages laughter and thought. Winners explored quirky phenomena across ten categories.

A study exploring the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and another on the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes, celebrating comical scientific achievements.

Less than a month before the Nobel Prizes, the 34th Ig Nobel prize ceremony took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine. The event, which includes paper airplane tossing, aims to make people laugh and think.

"While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense," said Marc Abrahams, the event's master of ceremonies and magazine editor, in an e-mail interview.

Winners in ten categories included studies on a vine from Chile mimicking artificial plant shapes, the swirling direction of hair based on hemispheres, and the efficacy of fake medicine with side effects. Additional winners explored mammals breathing through their anus.

(With inputs from agencies.)