2011 Ig Nobel Prizes

By Bryant Harland Sep 30, 2011

Opening Remarks
- This year's theme: chemisty
- Sword swallowing
  - 2007 Ig Nobel prize winner in medicine: Sword swallowing and it's side effects
- Accordion music: All of the elements in song.
- New Ig Nobel Prize winners welcomed to the stage.
- Karen Hopkin: creator of the "Stud Muffins of Science" calender.
Introductions
- Texans for the advancement of universal sexual chemistry.
- Museum of bad art
- MENSA: The organization for people with abnormal scores on certain, standardized psychological tests.
- The Harvard-Radcliffe science fiction association
- Lawyers for and against chemistry
- Master of Ceremonies: Mark Abrams
  - Ig Nobel ceremony produced by The Annals of Improbable Research, the
  - Cosponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association, the Harvard-Radcliffe society of Physics Students, and the Harvard Computer Society
  - Mark introduces the people on stage
  - Nobel Laureates
  - The Band
  - Human spotlights and the human curtain rods
  - The keepers of the mop
  - Here is how we solve the problem of speakers going past their allotted time.
  - Thanks to supporters
Ig Nobel "welcome welcome" speech:
- "Welcome....Welcome"
Start of the 2011 Ig Nobel Awards
- Each winner receives an Ig Nobel prize... and a piece of paper saying they've won an Ig Nobel prize.
- The prize is a small table with the periodic table on it.
Physiology prize
- Awarded to Anna Wilkinson, Natalie Sebanz, Isabella Mandl, and Ludwig Huber.
  - for the study: No evidence of contagious yawning in the red footed tortoise
Chemistry prize
- Awarded to Makoto Imai, Naoki Urushihata, Hideki Tanemura, et al.
  - For determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi to awaken sleeping people in the event of a fire or other emergency. Applying knowledge for developing the wasabi alarm.
- Demonstration
Medicine Prize
- Awarded to Merriam Tuk, Debra Trampe and Luk Warlop. And jointly to Matthew Lewis, Peter Snyder, Robert Feldman et al.
- "For demonstrating that people make better decisions about some kinds of things, but worse decisions about other kings of things when they have a strong urge to urinate."
Psychology Prize
- Awarded to Carl Halvor Teigen: for trying to understand why people sigh
  - No previous, empirical studies on sighs..."We had to invent our own sighchology"
Literature Prize
- John Perry: Theory of structured procrastination.
  - Debra Wilkes presents details of theory, because John couldn't make it.
Biology Prize
- Awarded to Daryll Gwynne and David Rentz for discovering that a certain kind of beetle mates with a certain kind of Australian beer bottle.
  - Isolating the cause of why the beetles attempt to mate with beer bottles.
Physics Prize
- Awarded to Philippe Perrin, Cyril Perrot, Dominique Deviterne, Bruno Ragaru et al.: for determining why discus throwers become dizzy and hammer throwers don't.
Mathematics Prize
- Awarded to people who have predicted the end of the world, for predictions about the end of the world.
- Teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.
Peace Prize
- Awarded to Arturas Zurauskas: for demonstrating that the problem of improperly parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank.
Public safety prize
- John Senders: Conducted a series of safety experiments where a person drives a vehicle down a highway while a visor repeatedly flips down, blocking his view.
  - John talks about his findings via a poem.
Previous Ig Novel winners
- 1999 Ig Nobel Prize in Environmental Protection: Hyuk Ho Kwon for the self-perfuming business suit
- 2009 Ig Novel Prize in chemistry: Deborah Anderson for testing whether coca-cola is an effective spermicide
  - Kills sperm within 1 second. Cherry coke is not effective.
- 1996 Ig Nobel Prize in Art: Don and Nancy Featherstone Creator of the plastic pink flamingo
Music: "The modern premiere of 'The Elements' by Aristotle, translated by Tom Lehrer
Throwing of paper airplanes
- Throwing paper airplanes: Round 2
"Chemist in a Coffee Shop"- a mini opera
- Act I: A chemist comes into a coffee shop.
  - The singing begins.
    - A song about brewing methods
- Act II: Something about coffee...
  - barista gets seductive with the chemist
  - A song about caffeine.
  - A song about coffee's composition
- Act III: The Coffee Diet
  - A song on the health effects of coffee. Also, accordion.
- Act IV: In the Coffee
  - Music starts: what should you put in coffee.
- Final Act:
  - A song about the elements
The 24/7 lectures
- A complete, technical description of the speaker's subject in 24 seconds, followed by a 7 word summary that anyone can understand.
  - Susan Lindquist: stress responses
  - Donna: single-walled carbon nanotubes
  - Dudley Herschbach: chemistry!
    - Goes over his 24 seconds
  - Kate Clansey: vaginal pH
    - "Leave your acidic vagina alone, don't douche."
In memory of professor William Lipscomb: video montage
A moment of science
- Liquids doing cool stuff. Well shaken.
  - Liquids become solid.
- Another moment of science (Eric Maskin)
  - Pendulums
  - Pendulums on top of soda cans
"Win a date with a Nobel Laureate" contest
- Lou Ignarro. Research in erectile dysfunction in rabbits.
- Winner of the win a date contest revealed.
Handshaking of the winners
- Ig Nobel "goodbye...goodbye" speech

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The 21th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony

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