The Ig Nobel Prizes, an annual event that celebrates science at its most unusual, honored researchers this week for a variety of peculiar studies. Winners were recognized for their work on topics ranging from cockroach milk and the evolutionary history of kissing to the correlation between wealth and unethical behavior, and the effectiveness of using underwear to test soil health.
The ceremony, presented by the digital magazine The Annals of Improbable Research, took place in Zurich, Switzerland, for the first time this year. The move from the U.S. was reportedly due to concerns that honorees might face visa issues.
Among this year's recipients was a study that explored the evolutionary roots of kissing, defining it as "a non-agonistic interaction involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer." Researchers suggested that kissing might have served a useful evolutionary function and could be an ancestral behavior shared with Neanderthals.
Another award went to research examining how socioeconomic status influences ethical conduct. Dr. Paul Piff, a social psychologist involved in the study, suggested that increased wealth and power may lead individuals to prioritize their own needs over those of others, citing examples such as "taking candy from children" as emblematic of this tendency.
In a demonstration of the winning research on soil science, awardees Pia Viviani and Atlant Bieri were photographed on stage holding up pairs of underwear, which were used in their study to assess soil health.
The Ig Nobel ceremony, founded in 1991, also recognized studies on the power of having mutual enemies, the development of splash-free urinals, the use of dead mosquitoes for 3D printing, and research indicating that parents enjoy the smell of newborns but not teenagers.
Separately, a report mentioned an incident where an Arkansas high school football player discovered a cottonmouth snake inside his helmet after practice. Animal control successfully removed the two-foot reptile from the helmet's padding.
Honorees at the Ig Nobel ceremony each receive a trophy designed to resemble a cross between a mushroom and a human foot, while the audience traditionally throws paper airplanes. The Ig Nobel Prizes are distinct from the official Nobel Prizes, which are scheduled to announce their recipients in October.
