Ib Nobel show

La recherche défendue par l’organisation Improbable Research est celle qui «fait rire pour ensuite faire réfléchir». C’est pour mettre en valeur cette forme de science originale et créative que, chaque année depuis 1991, l’organisation décerne une dizaine de prix «Ig Nobel».

Le 7 mai, Marc Abrahams, le fondateur de l’organisation, est invité par le CERN et l’UNIGE à donner un «Ig Nobel show», en anglais. Il introduira cette soirée drôle et dynamique par une courte présentation, avant de laisser la parole à une sélection de récipiendaires. Le public aura ainsi, ce soir là, l’occasion de découvrir les travaux de Kees Moeliker qui est l’auteur du premier cas scientifiquement observé de nécrophilie homosexuelle chez le canard colvert (Ig Nobel de biologie en 2003). Bart Knols poursuivra avec les résultats de sa recherche prouvant que le moustique anophèle femelle, vecteur de la malaria, est tout autant attiré par l’odeur du fromage Limburger que par celle des pieds humains (Ig Nobel de biologie en 2006). Stephan Bolliger et Steffen Ross concluront avec une présentation des résultats de l’étude qui leur ont valu l’Ig Nobel de la paix en 2009, dans laquelle ils démontrent qu’il est préférable de recevoir sur la tête une bouteille de bière pleine plutôt que vide.

La chanteuse Maria Ferrante et la pianiste Alice Martelli complèteront la soirée d’une touche artistique par des extraits d’opéras.

THE MATCHING GAME - Match the research with the illustration

BIOLOGY PRIZE 2003
C.W. Moeliker, of Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.
"The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae)" C.W. Moeliker, Deinsea, vol. 8, 2001, pp. 243-7.]

BIOLOGY PRIZE 2006
Bart Knols (of Wageningen Agricultural University, in Wageningen, the Netherlands; and of the National Institute for Medical Research, in Ifakara Centre, Tanzania, and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna Austria) and Ruurd de Jong (of Wageningen Agricultural University and of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Italy) for showing that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.
"On Human Odour, Malaria Mosquitoes, and Limburger Cheese," Bart. G.J. Knols, The Lancet, vol. 348 , November 9, 1996, p. 1322.

PEACE PRIZE 2012
Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining — by experiment — whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.
"Are Full or Empty Beer Bottles Sturdier and Does Their Fracture-Threshold Suffice to Break the Human Skull?" Stephan A. Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael J. Thali and Beat P. Kneubuehl, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, April 2009, pp. 138-42. DOI:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.013.

NEUROSCIENCE PRIZE 2012
Craig Bennett, Abigail Baird, Michael Miller, and George Wolford [USA], for demonstrating that brain researchers, by using complicated instruments and simple statistics, can see meaningful brain activity anywhere — even in a dead salmon.
"Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic Salmon: An argument for multiple comparisons correction," Craig M. Bennett, Abigail A. Baird, Michael B. Miller, and George L. Wolford, poster, 15th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, San Francisco, CA, June 2009.

CHEMISTRY PRIZE 2012
Johan Pettersson [SWEDEN and RWANDA]. for solving the puzzle of why, in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people's hair turned green.

PHYSICS PRIZE 2012
Joseph Keller [USA], and Raymond Goldstein [USA and UK], Patrick Warren, and Robin Ball [UK], for calculating the balance of forces that shape and move the hair in a human ponytail.
"Shape of a Ponytail and the Statistical Physics of Hair Fiber Bundles." Raymond E. Goldstein, Patrick B. Warren, and Robin C. Ball, Physical Review Letters, vol. 198, no. 7, 2012.

FLUID DYNAMICS PRIZE 2012
Rouslan Krechetnikov [USA, RUSSIA, CANADA] and Hans Mayer [USA] for studying the dynamics of liquid-sloshing, to learn what happens when a person walks while carrying a cup of coffee.
"Walking With Coffee: Why Does It Spill?" Hans C. Mayer and Rouslan Krechetnikov, Physical Review E, vol. 85, 2012.

ANATOMY PRIZE 2012
Frans de Waal [The Netherlands and USA] and Jennifer Pokorny [USA] for discovering that chimpanzees can identify other chimpanzees individually from seeing photographs of their rear ends.
"Faces and Behinds: Chimpanzee Sex Perception" Frans B.M. de Waal and Jennifer J. Pokorny, Advanced Science Letters, vol. 1, 99–103, 2008.

MEDICINE PRIZE 2012
Emmanuel Ben-Soussan and Michel Antonietti [FRANCE] for advising doctors who perform colonoscopies how to minimize the chance that their patients will explode.
"Colonic Gas Explosion During Therapeutic Colonoscopy with Electrocautery," Spiros D Ladas, George Karamanolis, Emmanuel Ben-Soussan, World Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 13, no. 40, October 2007, pp. 5295–8.