Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2024
Can a fake medicine work better if it stings?
How side effects can improve treatment efficacy: a randomized trial (2024)
Medicine
Doctors with a curious streak.
Food ✦ 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)
TechAnimals ✦ 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)
What happens if you jump from a plane with an empty backpack?
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial (2018)
Food
How do scientists know what’s really in the pool?
Sweetened swimming pools and hot tubs (2017)
Psychology
Is “man flu” actually real?
The science behind “man flu” (2017)
AnimalsPsychology ✦ 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)
Food
Is the five-second rule real?
Longer contact times increase cross-contamination of Enterobacter aerogenes from surfaces to food (2016)
FoodPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2017
What does cheese hate look like inside your brain?
The Neural Bases of Disgust for Cheese: An fMRI Study (2016)
Pop CultureTech
Did Pokémon GO actually get people moving?
Gotta catch’em all! Pokémon GO and physical activity among young adults: difference in differences study (2016)
✦ 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)
Pop Culture
Was Bilbo Baggins low on vitamin D?
The hobbit — an unexpected deficiency (2016)
Pop CulturePsychology
Is there a Christmas spirit hiding in your brain?
Evidence of a Christmas spirit network in the brain: functional MRI study (2015)
Should you hold it in on a plane?
Flatulence on airplanes: just let it go (2013)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2016
Can you scratch an itch by looking in a mirror?
Itch relief by mirror scratching. A psychophysical study (2013)
Psychology
Is laughter really the best medicine?
Laughter and MIRTH (Methodical Investigation of Risibility, Therapeutic and Harmful): narrative synthesis (2013)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2020
Why do chewing sounds drive some people up the wall?
Misophonia: diagnostic criteria for a new psychiatric disorder (2013)
Food
How long does a box of chocolates last on a hospital ward?
The survival time of chocolates on hospital wards: covert observational study (2013)
FoodPsychology
Does chocolate win Nobel Prizes?
Chocolate consumption, cognitive function, and Nobel laureates (2012)
Pop Culture
Can the Bee Gees help you do CPR?
“Stayin’ alive”: a novel mental metronome to maintain compression rates in simulated cardiac arrests (2012)
AnimalsPop Culture
Why is Rudolph’s nose red?
Why Rudolph’s nose is red: observational study (2012)
Pop Culture
How fast does the Grim Reaper walk?
How fast does the Grim Reaper walk? Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis in healthy men aged 70 and over (2011)
Pop Culture
How many bonks on the head happen in Asterix?
Traumatic brain injuries in illustrated literature: experience from a series of over 700 head injuries in the Asterix comic books (2011)
Pop Culture
Is Santa a good health role model?
Santa Claus: a public health pariah? (2009)
TechPhysics ✦ 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)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Does saying “ouch” really make it hurt less?
Swearing as a response to pain (2009)
Physics
Where does belly-button fluff come from?
The nature of navel fluff (2009)
Pop Culture
Would we survive a zombie outbreak? (Maths says…)
When zombies attack!: Mathematical modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection (2009)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2008
Does a fake pill work better if it’s expensive?
Commercial features of placebo and therapeutic efficacy (2008)
Pop CultureFood
Does sugar really make kids hyper?
Festive medical myths (2008)
Pop CulturePhysics
Is head banging bad for your neck?
Head and neck injury risks in heavy metal: head bangers stuck between rock and a hard bass (2008)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Can a rollercoaster ride make you feel less breathless?
Rollercoaster asthma: when positive emotional stress interferes with dyspnea perception (2007)
Psychology
What do strangers shout at people on unicycles?
Sex, aggression, and humour: responses to unicycling (2007)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
Can hamsters get jet lag?
Sildenafil accelerates reentrainment of circadian rhythms after advancing light schedules (2007)
✦ Ig Nobel 2017
Can playing the didgeridoo help you sleep?
Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial (2006)
✦ Ig Nobel 2007
What are the side effects of swallowing swords?
Sword swallowing and its side effects (2006)
FoodPsychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2007
Would you notice if your soup never ran out?
Bottomless bowls: why visual cues of portion size may influence intake (2005)
Psychology
Can clowns make surgery less scary for kids?
Clown doctors as a treatment for preoperative anxiety in children: a randomized, prospective study (2005)
Pop Culture
Can a Harry Potter book keep kids out of hospital?
Harry Potter casts a spell on accident prone children (2005)
Psychology
Where do all the office teaspoons go?
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute (2005)
Food ✦ Ig Nobel 2019
Could pizza be good for you?
Does pizza protect against cancer? (2003)
Is there proof that parachutes actually work?
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials (2003)
Animals ✦ Ig Nobel 2006
Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Cure for a headache (2002)
Food
Does eating ice cream fast give you brain freeze?
Ice cream evoked headaches (ICE-H) study: randomised trial of accelerated versus cautious ice cream eating regimen (2002)
Food
Does chicken soup really help a cold?
Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro (2000)
Animals
Do animals bite more at full moon?
Do animals bite more during a full moon? Retrospective observational analysis (2000)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2003
Do London cabbies have bigger brains?
Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers (2000)
Pop CulturePsychology
What would a doctor make of Winnie-the-Pooh?
Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne (2000)
✦ Ig Nobel 2009
Does cracking your knuckles give you arthritis?
Does knuckle cracking lead to arthritis of the fingers? (1998)
Pop Culture
Is CPR on TV too good to be true?
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation on television. Miracles and misinformation (1996)
Psychology
Do doctors really have the worst handwriting?
The truth about doctors’ handwriting: a prospective study (1996)
AnimalsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 1996
Do leeches like garlic?
Effect of ale, garlic, and soured cream on the appetite of leeches (1994)
Pop Culture
What illness did Tiny Tim have?
What was wrong with Tiny Tim? (1992)
PhysicsFood ✦ Ig Nobel 2001
How dangerous is it to sit under a coconut palm?
Injuries due to falling coconuts (1984)
✦ Ig Nobel 2025
What happens if you measure your fingernail for 30 years?
Nail growth: 30 years of observation (1974)