IG NOBEL FOR ‘LIQUID’ CATS RESEARCH

Paris, Sept. 15: Can a cat be both liquid and solid at the same time? Have vampire bats developed a taste for human blood? Will holding a crocodile bolster your gambling drive? These questions may appear improbable, yet they are important, say organisers of the annual Ig Nobel awards “for achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think”.

Researchers who invested time and money solving these were honoured on Friday with Ig Nobels in 10 categories ranging from economics, anatomy and biology to fluid dynamics, medicine and cognition.

The awards were presented at Harvard University by bemused laureates of the perhaps better-known Nobel Prize, which the Ig Nobels have spoofed since 1991.

The Ig Nobel for physics went to French researcher MarcAntoine Fardin for a science paper questioning: “Can a Cat Be Both a Solid and a Liquid?”

A liquid, he explained, is something that can adapt its shape to the container it is in. As he spoke, photos of cats in different stages of a liquid-like state, perched in vases, wine glasses and wash basins, flashed on a screen behind him.

The award for economics went to a US-Australian duo for experiments to discover whether touching a live crocodile would affect a person’s willingness to gamble.

The core lies in a conflict between N. Korea and the US. The focal point of the contradiction is not China — Hua Chunying, Top Chinese official