The laureates of the "Ig Nobel Prize 2025" were announced in Boston. The editorial board of the humorous scientific journal Annals of Improbable Research presented these awards for the 35th time. The "Ig Nobel Prizes" are awarded for the most questionable achievements in various fields of science that "first make you laugh, and then make you think." This was reported by Ars Technica, writes UNN.
Details
The ceremony took place in the George Sherman Union ballroom at Boston University and was broadcast online.
This year, the "Ig Nobel" was awarded to 10 studies — from the physics of Italian cacio e pepe pasta and the "pizza-loving" preferences of African lizards to an experiment on painting cows like zebras to protect against fly bites. Among the laureates are also Israeli scientists
As AP notes, traditions were upheld: paper airplanes, a mini-opera about digestion (the evening's theme was "digestion"), a "cash prize" of 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, and this time also a stomach-shaped trophy and… a hand napkin.
2025 Laureates by Nomination
Peace Prize - Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field, Jessica Wertmann: a small amount of alcohol improves foreign language speech (an experiment with Dutch speakers evaluating the speech of German students).
Physics - Jacopo Bartalucci, Daniele Busciello, Matteo Ciarci, Alberto Cartizelli, Ivan Di Terlizzi, Fabrizio Olmeda, David Revignas, Vincenzo Scimmenti: the "phase behavior" of cacio e pepe sauce — the starch threshold and the "mozzarella phase" when the sauce clumps together were determined.
Biology - Tomoki Kojima and colleagues: cows painted like zebras are less attacked by flies and swat less — a practical, "pesticide-free" method of protection.
Pediatrics - Julia Menella, Gary Beauchamp: garlic in the mother's diet changes the smell of breast milk — and infants suckle longer.
Aviation - Francisco Sanchez, Mariana Melcon, Carmi Corin, Barry Pinshow: "don't drink and fly" - alcohol impairs flight and echolocation in fruit bats.
Nutrition - Daniel Dendy, Gabriel Segniagbeto, Roger Meek, Luca Luiselli: rainbow agamas (Agama agama) in Togo prefer four-cheese pizza, ignoring "four seasons."
Psychology - Marcin Zarzenkowski, Gilles Gignac: if a person is told that their intelligence is "above average," their self-perception of intelligence and manifestations of grandiose narcissism temporarily increase.
Literature - posthumously William Bean: for 35 years meticulously measured the growth rate of his own fingernails and toenails — and published the results.
Engineering Design - Vikash Kumar, Sarthak Mittal: how shoe odor affects the "user experience quality" of a shoe cabinet - an analysis of the problem and approaches to "deodorization" from a design perspective.
Chemistry - Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich, Frank Greenway: the idea of a "Teflon diet" — adding PTFE as a bulky but non-caloric filler to create a feeling of fullness (the FDA was not enthusiastic about the idea).
Reference
The "Ig Nobel Prizes" were founded in 1991 by editor Marc Abrahams. The motto is research that "first makes you laugh, and then makes you think." In 2025, the ceremony was held for the first time within the walls of Boston University.