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EARTHDATE: October 2, 2011

Official News page 4


IG NOBLE PRIZES AWARDED

by Hazed

The 2011 Ig Noble prizes - for science that makes you laugh and then makes you think - have been awarded in a ceremony at Harvard University.

This year's winners include a study about Australian beetles trying to mate with empty beer bottles (but only the right kind of beer bottles) and a scheme to use Wasabi, the very hot Japanese horseradish, in fire alarms.

Amongst the other studies honored at the awards are the discovery that red-footed tortoises do not have contagious yawns, a study into why people sigh, and why discus throwers get dizzy but hammer throwers don't.

The Peace Prize was awarded to the mayor of Vilinius in Lithuania, who demonstrated that the best way to deal with illegally parked luxury cars is to squash them with an armored tank! (Here's a video of this demonstration if you missed it when it was first published).

You can watch a video of the whole ceremony on the Ig Noble website.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15117051


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