Overview
- The 36th Ig Nobel ceremony took place Thursday in Zurich and presented awards to ten research teams for playful but peer-reviewed studies, including work on cockroach milk, a splash-free urinal and underwear buried to test soil health.
- Organizers, led by Annals of Improbable Research founder Marc Abrahams, said concerns about the safety and ability of international winners and journalists to travel to the United States drove the move and they plan to alternate future ceremonies around Europe with Antwerp hosting in 2027.
- The Biology prize honored a group that tested how light stepping on venomous snakes affects biting, a study that has drawn ethical scrutiny and was previously retracted over concerns about its animal work.
- Other winners included a Chemistry team that reported high-energy proteins in viviparous cockroach milk, a Physics team that designed a splash-free urinal called the Nautilus, and a Soil Science citizen project that buried 1,000 identical pairs of underpants in more than 25 countries to measure decomposition.
- Organizers made the Zurich ceremony recording publicly available and said the European move aims to make attendance easier and safer for international researchers and reporters, which could change who can present and cover future prize winners.