Scientists lauded for absurd scientific achievements

BOSTON: Scientists who discovered that old men really do have big ears, that playing the didgeridoo helps relieve sleep apnea and that handling crocodiles can influence gambling decisions are among this year’s recipients of the Ig Nobel, the prize for absurd scientific achievement.

The 27th annual awards were announced Thursday at Harvard University.

The ceremony featured a traditional barrage of paper airplanes, a world premiere opera and real Nobel laureates handing out the 10 prizes.

“It’s a strange honour to have, but I am thrilled,” Dr James Heathcote said. A British physician, Heathcote won the Ig Nobel for anatomy for his bigear research.

The awards are sponsored by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the HarvardRadcliffe Science Fiction Association and the HarvardRadcliffe Society of Physics Students.

This year’s winners – who each received trillions of cash prizes in virtually worthless Zimbabwean money – also included scientists who used fluid dynamics to determine whether cats are solid or liquid, researchers who tried to figure out why some people are disgusted by cheese, and psychologists who found that many identical twins cannot tell themselves apart in visual images.

For his study, Heathcote measured the ear length of more than 200 patients and discovered not only that old men have big ears but that ears grow about 2mm per decade after age 30.

Dr Milo Puhan’s Ig Nobel peace prizewinning discovery found that playing the didgeridoo – that tubular Australian aboriginal instrument that emits a deep, rhythmic drone – helps relieve sleep apnea.

Puhan, director of the Institute for Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention at the University of Zurich in Switzerland figures playing the didgeridoo helps people learn circular breathing and strengthens the throat muscles.

The economics prize went to Australians who found that if you want to limit your gambling losses, do not have a close encounter with crocodiles before hitting the casino.

Matthew Rockloff, head of the Population Research Laboratory at Central Queensland University in Bundaberg, and research assistant Nancy Greer, determined excitement caused by handling a dangerous reptile caused people with preexisting problems to gamble higher amounts. — AP