Ignoble Prizes 2018

September 13, 2018 10:14 PM

The 2018 awards honor research on cursing while driving and cannibalistic calories. Ever wondered why so many people don't read instruction manuals, or how many calories are in the human body? Or whether stabbing a voodoo doll representing your horrible boss with pins could help reduce workplace tension? The winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes have got you covered. These and other unusual research topics were honored tonight in a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater.
posted by MovableBookLady (13 comments total)

8 winners of the Ig Nobel Prize, whose scientific works sounds funny but is actually perfectly serious, mostly
posted by Artw at 10:20 PM on September 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

how many calories are in the human body?

This may be valuable information depending on how the midterms go.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:40 PM on September 13, 2018 [12 favorites]

At least one Ig Nobel recipient, Andre Geim, has gone on to win a bona fide Nobel Prize, albeit for a different line of research.

Take that all you EGOT winners!
posted by TedW at 2:55 AM on September 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

That's Metafilter's Own Horace Rumpole displaying his musical skills as the soloist in the Shoe Drop Concerto.
posted by firechicago at 3:49 AM on September 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

(Sorry, I just realized that the link was to the list of winners, not to the Awards Ceremony where he appears.)
posted by firechicago at 3:51 AM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Secret I learned from volunteering this year: everyone who puts this ceremony on is amazingly nice and kind. Like, incredibly so.

Anyway, great ceremony as always! Lovely use of the Tesla coil. The NSFW indicator skits seemed a little stale this year, though.
posted by sidek at 4:41 AM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

The chimp/human imitation footage they show at around 19:20 for the Anthropology Prize is pretty good.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:31 AM on September 14, 2018

YES! The "I'm bored, please stop!" girl is still a thing!
posted by martin q blank at 6:32 AM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

After being peripherally aware of the awards ceremony for a number of years, I was able to attend the ceremony in person this year and it was delightful!
posted by muchomas at 10:09 AM on September 14, 2018

Lessons Learned from Self-Colonoscopy

well.
posted by numaner at 2:51 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sadly, I don’t actually appear in the final edited version firechicago linked, because I was the preshow entertainment, but you can see me perform the Shoe Drop Concerto and then give the safety announcement in the original livestream.

I had the good fortune to meet Marc Abrahams through Twitter and was thrilled to get asked to participate. I now own a shoe that I can only assume has been touched by more Nobel laureates than any other shoe in history!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

Bonus fun fact: Ivan, the pianist for the Concerto, is from Kazakhstan and had never heard the phrase “Waiting for the other shoe to drop.” but was wonderfully game for the whole thing.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:41 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Having just finished reading The Terror, I'm a bit relieved that human flesh is a poor dietary choice.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 11:11 AM on September 16, 2018