FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2025
How do physicists make the perfect cheesy pasta sauce?
Phase behavior of Cacio e Pepe sauce (2025)
Ig Nobel winners
research that makes you laugh, then think · 89 prize winners, newest first
The Ig Nobel Prizes are handed out every year at Harvard (with real Nobel laureates in attendance) for real research that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think. Here is every winner in our collection, explained without the jargon.
AnimalsTech ✦ Ig Nobel 2025
Can painting zebra stripes on a cow keep flies away?
Cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid biting fly attack (2019)
Medicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2025
What happens if you measure your fingernail for 30 years?
Nail growth: 30 years of observation (1974)
TechPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2024
Is a coin toss really 50–50?
Fair coins tend to land on the same side they started: Evidence from 350,757 flips (2025)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2024
Can a fake medicine work better if it stings?
How side effects can improve treatment efficacy: a randomized trial (2024)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2023
What happens if you write the same word over and over?
The the the the induction of jamais vu in the laboratory: word alienation and semantic satiation (2021)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2023
Why do geologists lick rocks?
Eating fossils (2017)
FoodTech ✦ Ig Nobel 2023
Can electric chopsticks change how food tastes?
Augmented gustation using electricity (2011)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2023
If a crowd stares up at nothing, will you look too?
Note on the drawing power of crowds of different size (1969)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
Why is the small print so hard to read?
Poor writing, not specialized concepts, drives processing difficulty in legal language (2022)
PhysicsAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
Why do ducklings swim in a line?
Wave-riding and wave-passing by ducklings in formation swimming (2021)
MedicineFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
Can ice cream be medicine?
Ice-cream used as cryotherapy during high-dose melphalan conditioning reduces oral mucositis after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (2021)
PsychologyTech ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
Is success down to talent or luck?
Talent versus luck: The role of randomness in success and failure (2018)
PhysicsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
How many fingers do you use to turn a knob?
How to use fingers during rotary control of columnar knobs (1999)
TechAnimalsMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2021
Is it better to fly a rhino upside down?
The pulmonary and metabolic effects of suspension by the feet compared with lateral recumbency in immobilized black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) captured by aerial darting (2021)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2021
Are beards built-in armour?
Impact protection potential of mammalian hair: testing the pugilism hypothesis for the evolution of human facial hair (2020)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2021
Does every cat have its own purr?
A comparative acoustic analysis of purring in four cats (2011)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2020
What does an alligator sound like on helium?
A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian (2015)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2020
Why do chewing sounds drive some people up the wall?
Misophonia: diagnostic criteria for a new psychiatric disorder (2013)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2019
How do wombats make perfect little cubes?
Intestines of non-uniform stiffness mold the corners of wombat feces (2021)
MedicineAnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2019
Can you train surgeons like dolphins?
Is Teaching Simple Surgical Skills Using an Operant Learning Program More Effective Than Teaching by Demonstration? (2016)
MedicineFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2019
Could pizza be good for you?
Does pizza protect against cancer? (2003)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2019
Can a pen in your teeth make cartoons funnier?
Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis (1988)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2018
Who copies who at the chimpanzee enclosure?
Spontaneous cross-species imitation in interactions between chimpanzees and zoo visitors (2018)
Medicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2018
Can a roller coaster cure kidney stones?
Validation of a functional pyelocalyceal renal model for the evaluation of renal calculi passage while riding a roller coaster (2016)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
How do you carry coffee without spilling it?
A study on the coffee spilling phenomena in the low impulse regime (2016)
MedicineFoodPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
What does cheese hate look like inside your brain?
The Neural Bases of Disgust for Cheese: An fMRI Study (2016)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
Can identical twins tell themselves apart in photos?
Is that me or my twin? Lack of self-face recognition advantage in identical twins (2015)
PhysicsAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
Is a cat a liquid?
On the rheology of cats (2014)
Medicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
Can playing the didgeridoo help you sleep?
Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial (2006)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2016
At what age are people best at fibbing?
From junior to senior Pinocchio: A cross-sectional lifespan investigation of deception (2015)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2016
Can you scratch an itch by looking in a mirror?
Itch relief by mirror scratching. A psychophysical study (2013)
PhysicsAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2016
Why do white horses get fewer horseflies?
An unexpected advantage of whiteness in horses: the most horsefly-proof horse has a depolarizing white coat (2010)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2016
Does the world look different from between your legs?
Perceived size and perceived distance of targets viewed from between the legs: Evidence for proprioceptive theory (2006)
Food ✦ Ig Nobel 2015
Can you unboil an egg?
Shear-stress-mediated refolding of proteins from aggregates and inclusion bodies (2015)
PhysicsAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2015
Do elephants and cats take the same time in the loo?
Duration of urination does not change with body size (2014)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2015
What if you gave a chicken a dinosaur tail?
Walking like dinosaurs: chickens with artificial tails provide clues about non-avian theropod locomotion (2014)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2015
Is “huh?” the same in every language?
Is “Huh?” a universal word? Conversational infrastructure and the convergent evolution of linguistic items (2013)
FoodPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2014
Why do we see faces in our toast?
Seeing Jesus in toast: Neural and behavioral correlates of face pareidolia (2014)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2014
Do dogs have a secret compass?
Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth’s magnetic field (2013)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2014
Are banana peels really that slippery?
Frictional coefficient under banana skin (2012)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2014
What do reindeer do when a polar bear turns out to be a scientist?
Response behaviors of Svalbard reindeer towards humans and humans disguised as polar bears on Edgeøya (2012)
PsychologyFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2013
Does thinking you’ve had a drink make you feel prettier?
“Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder”: People who think they are drunk also think they are attractive (2013)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2013
Can beetles navigate by the stars?
Dung beetles use the Milky Way for orientation (2013)
Food ✦ Ig Nobel 2013
Why do onions make us cry?
An onion enzyme that makes the eyes water (2002)
Physics ✦ Ig Nobel 2012
Is there an equation for a ponytail?
Shape of a ponytail and the statistical physics of hair fiber bundles (2012)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2012
Why does coffee spill when you walk?
Walking with coffee: Why does it spill? (2012)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2012
Does leaning to the left make the Eiffel Tower shrink?
Leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower seem smaller: Posture-modulated estimation (2011)
PsychologyAnimalsTech ✦ Ig Nobel 2012
Can a fish from the shop show brain activity?
Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic Salmon: an argument for proper multiple comparisons correction (2010)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2011
Do tortoises catch yawns?
No evidence of contagious yawning in the red-footed tortoise Geochelone carbonaria (2011)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2011
What does a sigh really mean?
Is a sigh “just a sigh”? Sighs as emotional signals and responses to a difficult task (2008)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2011
Can a beetle fall in love with a bottle?
Beetles on the bottle: male buprestids mistake stubbies for females (1983)
PsychologyTech ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Would companies run better if promotions were random?
The Peter principle revisited: A computational study (2010)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
How do you give a whale a check-up?
A novel non-invasive tool for disease surveillance of free-ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs (2010)
TechPhysicsMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Does wearing socks over your shoes stop you slipping on ice?
Preventing winter falls: a randomised controlled trial of a novel intervention (2009)
PsychologyMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Does saying “ouch” really make it hurt less?
Swearing as a response to pain (2009)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Can a rollercoaster ride make you feel less breathless?
Rollercoaster asthma: when positive emotional stress interferes with dyspnea perception (2007)
AnimalsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2009
Do cows with names make more milk?
Exploring stock managers’ perceptions of the human–animal relationship on dairy farms and an association with milk production (2009)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2009
Can you make diamonds out of tequila?
Growth of diamond films from tequila (2008)
Medicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2009
Does cracking your knuckles give you arthritis?
Does knuckle cracking lead to arthritis of the fingers? (1998)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2008
Does a fake pill work better if it’s expensive?
Commercial features of placebo and therapeutic efficacy (2008)
Physics ✦ Ig Nobel 2008
Why do strings tie themselves in knots?
Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string (2007)
PsychologyFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2008
Can a louder crunch make crisps taste fresher?
The role of auditory cues in modulating the perceived crispness and staleness of potato chips (2004)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2008
Who jumps higher: a dog flea or a cat flea?
A comparison of jump performances of the dog flea, Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis, 1826) and the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché, 1835) (2000)
AnimalsMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
Can hamsters get jet lag?
Sildenafil accelerates reentrainment of circadian rhythms after advancing light schedules (2007)
Medicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
What are the side effects of swallowing swords?
Sword swallowing and its side effects (2006)
FoodPsychologyMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
Would you notice if your soup never ran out?
Bottomless bowls: why visual cues of portion size may influence intake (2005)
Physics ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
Why does cling film wrinkle in neat lines?
Geometry and physics of wrinkling (2003)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Do big words make you sound smart?
Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly (2006)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Can rats tell Dutch from Japanese?
Effects of backward speech and speaker variability in language discrimination by rats (2005)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Why won’t spaghetti snap neatly in two?
Fragmentation of rods by cascading cracks: why spaghetti does not break in half (2005)
AnimalsMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Cure for a headache (2002)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
How fast does sound travel through Cheddar?
Ultrasonic velocity in Cheddar cheese as affected by temperature (1999)
PsychologyPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Why are nails on a chalkboard so awful?
Psychoacoustics of a chilling sound (1986)
AnimalsPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2005
How do penguins keep their nests so tidy?
Pressures produced when penguins pooh — calculations on avian defaecation (2003)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2004
How do herring talk to each other?
Pacific and Atlantic herring produce burst pulse sounds (2004)
PsychologyAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2004
Could you miss a gorilla walking right past you?
Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events (1999)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2003
Do chickens think you’re pretty?
Chickens prefer beautiful humans (2002)
MedicinePsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2003
Do London cabbies have bigger brains?
Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers (2000)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 2002
Does beer foam behave like radioactive atoms?
Demonstration of the exponential decay law using beer froth (2002)
MedicinePhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2001
How dangerous is it to sit under a coconut palm?
Injuries due to falling coconuts (1984)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2000
Why are the least skilled people often the most confident?
Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments (1999)
PhysicsAnimals ✦ Ig Nobel 2000
Can you make a frog float in mid-air?
Of flying frogs and levitrons (1997)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 1999
What’s the scientifically correct way to dunk a biscuit?
Physics takes the biscuit (1999)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 1999
Why do some teapots dribble?
Pouring flows (1986)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 1996
Why does toast always land butter-side down?
Tumbling toast, Murphy’s Law and the fundamental constants (1995)
AnimalsFoodMedicine ✦ Ig Nobel 1996
Do leeches like garlic?
Effect of ale, garlic, and soured cream on the appetite of leeches (1994)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 1995
Can a pigeon tell Monet from Picasso?
Pigeons’ discrimination of paintings by Monet and Picasso (1995)
FoodPhysics ✦ Ig Nobel 1995
When exactly does cereal go soggy?
A study of the effects of water content on the compaction behaviour of breakfast cereal flakes (1994)