Overview
- The 36th Ig Nobel ceremony was held in Zurich and marks the first time the awards were staged outside the United States as organizers plan to rotate future European hosts with Antwerp named for 2027.
- Ten projects won prizes this year, including work on cockroach “milk” as a nutrient source, a 1977 study on how to blow your nose, mosquito proboscises repurposed as ultra‑fine 3D‑printer nozzles, a splash‑free urinal design, and a global underwear‑burial soil index.
- One Biology prize honored a 2024 experiment that measured when venomous Bothrops jararaca snakes bite after being stepped on and that paper was later retracted following claims it exceeded its animal‑care approvals.
- Organizers said the venue change followed many 2025 winners declining to attend the Boston ceremony because of travel and visa worries, a shift that directly affects researchers who must decide whether to accept public recognition abroad.
- The Ig Nobels are a long‑running parody of the Nobel Prizes that aim to celebrate work that first makes people laugh and then think, often drawing attention both to clever, practical insights and to questions about research methods and ethics.