Top 10 IG Nobel Prize Winners

Top 10 IG Nobel Prize Winners

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Top 10 Nobel Prize Winners

These individuals know how to think outside the box – way outside the box. Join http://www.WatchMojo.com as we count down our picks for the Top 10 Ig Nobel Prize Winners. For this list, we’re looking at the most memorable winners of the Ig Nobel Prize. A parody of the Nobel Prize, the Ig Nobel Prize pokes fun at strange ideas and highlights ones which might lead to a breakthrough discovery in scientific research. The Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony takes place every year at Harvard University and strives to reward those who “make people laugh, and then make them think.”

#10: The Italian National Institute of Statistics (2014) Economics

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Thanks to new rules set out by the European Union, Italy was able to bring GDP numbers up by including industries they previously ignored (because such transactions are illegal) - namely prostitution, drug sales, and smuggling. After adding up the estimated revenues from these black market activities, the Italian National Institute of Statistics found that their economy went from -0.1% growth all the way to zero, which was technically enough to lift Italy out of recession. Anyone who says crime doesn’t pay clearly isn’t an economist.

This Lithuanian mayor has little patience for luxury cars parked illegally in his town’s bike lanes, so he staged a video to show his disgust. In the video, mayor Zuokas rolls down the street on a tank (alright, an armed vehicle, but still) and crushes a Mercedes parked in the wrong lane. When the supposed Mercedes owner pops out to look at the damage, the mayor reprimands him for his careless parking. A piece of advice for politicians--if you ride around on a tank, it doesn’t automatically make you look cool. Just ask Michael Dukakis.

At the turn of the century, Andre Geim and his partner Michael Berry came up with an awesome way of experimenting with frogs that didn’t involve dissecting them. They tested the effects of magnetism on the amphibians and were able to raise one several feet off the ground. Geim and his colleague claimed they could apply the same magnetic field to lift up a human being. Perhaps Geim's work isn't as silly as it seems, however, as he earned an actual Nobel Prize in 2010 for his graphene research, making him the only person win both awards as an individual.

This Atlanta businessman popularized Kopi Luwak, a rare coffee with a disgusting source. Its beans are collected from the fecal droppings of the palm civet, a cat-like creature native to Southeast Asia, and the coffee is marketed as a delicacy all around the world, selling for as much as 600 dollars a pound. The reason behind Kopi Luwak’s appeal is its low acid content and lack of bitter taste, courtesy of the palm civet’s digestive process breaking down proteins in the beans.

In 1990s’ Johannesburg, carjackings were becoming increasingly rampant, but Charl Fourie found a way to fight back. He invented a device you could put under your car that projected flames at an approaching carjacker. The device, called the Blaster, emitted liquid gas, and caused an electric spark, which produced fire from both sides of a vehicle. While Fourie claimed the Blaster – also called the BMW Flamethrower - wasn’t powerful enough to kill an assailant, he believed it could permanently blind someone, and that's good enough, right?

If you’ve ever boiled an egg and wanted to unboil it, you’re in luck, because scientists from Flinders University and the University of California-Irvine have worked together to discover a way to do just that. When an egg is boiled, protein strands in the egg fold into a new pattern. To fold the proteins back into their original pattern, researchers dissolved the egg in a chemical solution, liquefying it, then spun the mixture in a Vortex Fluidic Device. This discovery may have dramatic effects for drug companies as this new process of refolding proteins could make pharmaceutical production more efficient, and could help out with chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment… or it could just un-boil eggs. Win win.

After a harrowing encounter with a bear in the woods, this Canadian outdoorsman decided he needed a way to defend himself from ursine predators. Inspired by the movie “Robocop,” Troy came up with the idea to build an indestructible suit. Over a period of seven years, he created several versions, made of various materials including titanium, chainmail, and duct tape. While Hurtubise never got to test out his armor against a wild bear, in 2002 he did get a trial run with a trained Kodiak bear, but the mammal was too confounded by his outlandish appearance to even come close to him!

According to a New York Times article published in 2004, for decades the Catholic Church had been engaged in a time-honored business practice of outsourcing labor to India. Priests in the United States, Canada, and Europe have been shipping special prayers to Kerala, a state located in southern India. Although weird, it worked out well for Indian priests who were only making $45 a month, as local prayers typically paid out 90 cents but fancy American prayers could net them a smooth five bucks. No idea why prayers cost money, but bless them all the same!

A group of Dutch researchers was able to use MRI scanning to find out what happens when two people have sex. Conducting thirteen separate experiments involving eight couples and three single women, they found that in the missionary position, the penis curves into the shape of a boomerang. The researchers also discovered that during female arousal, the uterus rises a couple of centimeters. At first glance this may seem like a giant waste of time but rest assured knowing that this research was one of the biggest breakthroughs ever in the field of “penis-shape-when-inside-a-lady-ology.” Or anatomy. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: - Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse of the Zoological Society of London, UK et al (2010) Engineering - Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005) Economics - Daniel Oppenheimer of Princeton University (2006) Literature - Brian Witcombe of Gloucester, UK, and Dan Meyer of Antioch, Tennessee (2007) Medicine - John Perry of Stanford University (2011) Literature

When Dr. Kruszelnicki was asked by a fan of his radio show where belly button fluff comes from, he decided to personally research the topic himself. So he organized an online survey that had more than 4700 participants. In addition, he collected samples of belly button lint and shaved hair from some of the more willing volunteers. Among his findings were that you’re more likely to have belly button lint if you’re male, possibly because men have more body hair than women. Also, the older you get, the more lint you accumulate, and the darker your skin color, the darker the lint... so now you know. Do you agree with our list? Which Ig Nobel Prize Winner left you scratching your head? For more entertaining top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.