I'll assume that we've all heard of the Nobel Prizes, yes? Perfect, now how about the Ig Nobels? The Ig Nobels are a humorous offshoot of the prestigious Nobel Prizes, honoring individuals for achievements that makes people laugh and then think. What does this mean? Well, basically, scientists and researchers from around the world are selected because they have research that seems completely absurd. They are then voted on, discussed, and eventually cropped down to the final prize winners.
I know you're saying to yourself "I'm ridiculous! I can do really absurd research! I should win an IgNobel!" More power to you, but here's what you're up against:
In the category of Linguistics -- Juan Manuel Toro, Josep B. Trobalon and Núria Sebastián-Gallés, of Universitat de Barcelona, for showing that rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.In the category of Peace -- The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA, for instigating research & development on a chemical weapon -- the so-called "gay bomb" -- that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other.
In the category of aviation -- Patricia V. Agostino, Santiago A. Plano and Diego A. Golombek of Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina, for their discovery that Viagra aids jetlag recovery in hamsters.
Do you still think you're capable of something worthy of an Ig Nobel?
The reason I bring this up is because the Ig Nobels take place in Cambridge Massachusetts, the happy little home of MIT and Harvard. The ceremonies traditionally take place at Harvard and the informal lectures that follow several days later are at MIT. While I missed the ceremonies, I did make a point of going to the informal lectures.
The informal lectures are when you get a chance to actually hear the reasoning behind all of this research. Consider it a "Why" to the "Huh?!" Each speaker has 5 minutes to share all of their research and try to convince the audience that they aren't off their rocker. To avoid any speakers hogging the stage it's tradition to employ two members of the audience to help with moving the show along. When they asked for two volunteers I did the typical 6th grade "Me Me Me Me Me!" and waved my hand around from near the back of the lecture hall (actually, it was a subdued and altogether graceful raising of my hand). The MC picked me and said "Great, we have a time keeper! Do you have a watch with a second hand?"
Uh oh. I look at my watch. I stuttered for a bit. I look around at the 200 people in the room, all looking at me. I then look back down at the MC, at which point I had to confess.
"Actually, I'm wearing a binary watch."
Everybody around me and throughout the lecture hall just started laughing and clapping, it was pretty amazing. I was quickly handed a watch with a second hand by Mason '10 and was all set. I was teamed up with an associate time-keeper. Her job was to sit up front near the speaker and turn her cell phone up to an obnoxiously loud volume. My job was to call her every minute and tell her how many minutes were left in each person's presentation. Here's a picture of us exchanging phone numbers:
The rest of the ceremony went off very well, with me calling and her warning. We heard stories about homosexual mallards, bottomless bowls of soup, and vanilla extracted from cow dung, creating a great start to the day. I fully intend on going to both the ceremonies AND the lectures next year so I can get the true Ig experience.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
when did that take place?
Posted by: 0 on January 15, 2008
I think this Ig Nobel is like that only. These scientists/researchers are doing something which will amuze us at first but after attending their lectures it will lead us to some thinking which we never thought of.
These Ig Nobels are quite interesting people after all.
Posted by: Akshay on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Akshay on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Piper on January 15, 2008
Posted by: mani on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Sanja on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Mike on January 15, 2008
"rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards. "
haahahahhahaaaAHAAA!!! i think i died laughing! five times over and ummm i wont even start with the others!
snively i would kill to be you, especially for that binary watch :D
Posted by: Aditi on January 15, 2008
clocky and its AUTHOR??
she did get an ig...and was from MIT(where else!)
@ snively
is that a MOTORAZR that u are using?
Posted by: Anion on January 15, 2008
Yep, it's a RAZR. My other phone didn't survive frat rush (those log rides at 6 Flags are killer) so my parents had to ship me a new phone. Actually, now that I think about it, 4 of the 9 freshmen on my floor have had to replace their phones since we've started classes.
Posted by: Snively on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Travis on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Carolina on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Marissa on January 15, 2008
But anyway, MIT destroying my phone is something that should not happen to an intl student that has all of his friends' and familys' phone numbers !
I've just read what a binary watch is on the link you gave us. Can you actually read the time on it ?
Posted by: Isshak on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Rena on January 15, 2008
Absolutely, don't worry about it.
Posted by: Snively on January 15, 2008
BTW, take a look at Darwin Awards; the only prize you will receive after death.
Posted by: PS on January 15, 2008
Posted by: Masud on January 15, 2008
Yup, that was what I wanted to say... but my thoughts aren't under the control of my brain lately
Posted by: Sanja on January 15, 2008
Posted by: archimedes on January 15, 2008
*I want one* *lol, alarm clocks never wake me up...*
Anyway, great post! Also, that binary watch is awesome!!! *claps*
Posted by: Lauren on January 15, 2008
I'm totally going to those next year!! :-D
Posted by: Lauren on January 15, 2008
Posted by: thesoffish on January 15, 2008
Posted by: PFM on January 16, 2008
If you are an international student then only one will count towards testing requirement either SAT Reasoning Test or TOEFL and they'll take whichever is higher. So don't worry.
Posted by: Akshay on January 16, 2008
@Rena - The only time I got straight A's was second semester freshman year. So yeah, you're definitely not out of the running.
CLOCKY IS AMAZING. I WANT ONE.
Posted by: Piper on January 16, 2008
Posted by: E. Rosser on January 16, 2008
I'm curious though... what were the reasons behind the rodent linguistics comprehension experiment? And... I wonder what backwards japanese sounds like.
Posted by: Hyun Jin on January 16, 2008
I play in the same athletic conference as Salem, nice place (although not the nicest drive there from Redmond)
sorry to add such a meaningless post, I was just pleasantly surprised by the Oregon tag. I'll be sure to wear my Oregon attire at MIT and we will have to fondly look back at our time on the other coast (even though neither of us live/lived on "the coast").
Posted by: Stephen Rigsby on January 16, 2008
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