The Ig Nobel Prizes

For all mad scientists there comes a time when, in a moment of clarity, they truly realize what they've just spent several years and buckets of grant money working on. At the time, they might find themselves eyeing their new gene-spliced insect feelers in the bathroom mirror. Or perhaps this sobering moment occurs in the midst of an arctic pursuit of their own murderous, corpse-stitched creation. In that moment, reason taps the scientist on the shoulder and whispers coldly in his or her ear, "Dude, you just spend six years researching THIS?"

What's that, you say? "The Fly" and Frankenstein are just fiction? Real research doesn't seek to answer ghoulish or seemingly unimportant questions? Well, perhaps you haven't read Kees W. Moeliker's 2003 inquiry into the existence of homosexual necrophiliac ducks or James Watson's 2004 study of exploding pants among New Zealand farmers in the 1930s. Yes, science is a big tent and, the more we answer the truly pressing questions about the universe, the more nagging all the little curiosities become. You could say we're fine-tuning our scientific understanding, which sometimes means developing the means to cure hiccups with "digital rectal massage." Seriously, read all about it here.

Yes, each of these studies actually appeared in a legitimate scientific journal. Subsequently, each has received the highest honor that questionable, bizarre and downright funny science can aspire to: the Ig Nobel Prize. Not to be confused with the prestigious Nobel Prizes -- given out each year for various scientific, artistic and social achievements -- these prizes, as the name implies, award far more ignoble accomplishments.

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