![]() ARIELY: I feel that I deserve the Ig Nobel every year. ![]() DAN ARIELY (Behavioral Economist, Duke University): I never listen to instructions, so I'm not going to do this in 140 characters. ABRAHAMS: Please welcome the team leader, Dan Ariely. The 2008 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine went to the team who demonstrated that high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine. FEATHERSTONE: So feel free to give them to all your friends. DON FEATHERSTONE (Artist): The plastic pink flamingo is the only animal fully protected from bacteria. Please welcome Don Featherstone and his wife Nancy Featherstone. The 1976 Ig Nobel Prize in Art was awarded to the creator of the plastic pink flamingo. ABRAHAMS: Atsushi Tero and Toshiyuki Nakagaki. Unidentified Man: Plus, we found that slime mold can be navigators, and this time we found that the slime mold can be transported (unintelligible) back. Please welcome Toshiyuki Nakagaki and Atsushi Tero. The 2008 Ig Nobel Prize in Cognitive Science was awarded to the team who discovered that slime mold can solve puzzles. But if you just took a close look at our book, "The Invisible Gorilla," you'd see your mind much more clearly. Professor CHRISTOPHER CHABRIS (Albany Medical College): Gorillas are harder to see than we realize intuitively. The 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology was awarded to the team that discovered that when people pay close attention to one thing, they can easily overlook anything else, even a woman in a gorilla suit. ![]() Referee John Barrett will enforce the speech limit.Īnd please welcome them one at a time. We've asked them to limit their words to one Twitter tweet - 140 characters maximum. Each returning winner will express his or her sentiments about the occasion, concisely. ABRAHAMS: We are honored to have with us tonight several past winners of the Ig Nobel Prize. Professor JEAN BERKO GLEASON (Boston University): Welcome, welcome. ABRAHAMS: Now, Professor Jean Berko Gleason will deliver the traditional Ig Nobel welcome-welcome speech. The editors of the Annals of Improbable Research have chosen a theme for this year's ceremony. The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony is produced by the science humor magazine the Annals of Improbable Research, and the Ig is proudly co-sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association, the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students, and the Harvard Computer Society. Every winner has done something that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. We are gathered here tonight to honor some remarkable individuals and groups. MARC ABRAHAMS (Author, "The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself"): Thank you. Unidentified Woman: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, literati, glitterati, pseudo-intellectuals, quasi-pseudo-intellectuals and gram-negative bacillococci - may I introduce our master of ceremonies, the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, chief airhead Marc Abrahams. But if you want more information about what we're talking about, go to our website at, where you'll find links to our topics. We won't be taking calls this hour, so don't try to call in. On this holiday edition of SCIENCE FRIDAY we'll be taking you to Harvard Sanders Theater, where earlier this year the Ig Nobel Awards were handed out. What will this year's ceremony bring? There's only one way to find out. Last year's honorees included the American scientist who determined why pregnant women don't tip over, the Mexican physicist who created diamonds from tequila, and the Swiss team who tested whether it's better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle. You knew it was coming - the 20th First Annual Ig Nobel Awards ceremony, a tribute to the good, the bad and the ugly in science - really the strange, silly and unusual. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |