Physics ✦ 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)
Tech
Computer science with a wink.
Food
Can flat pasta turn itself into twirls?
Morphing pasta and beyond (2021)
AnimalsMedicine ✦ 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 if internet addresses were deliberately unreadable?
The Internationalized Deliberately Unreadable Network NOtation (I-DUNNO) (2020)
Animals ✦ 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)
Animals
Why would anyone build a robot sloth?
The SlothBot: A novel design for a wire-traversing robot (2019)
Animals
Can a robot fish make friends on a coral reef?
Exploration of underwater life with an acoustically controlled soft robotic fish (2018)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2022
Is success down to talent or luck?
Talent versus luck: The role of randomness in success and failure (2018)
Pop Culture
Who is the real main character of Game of Thrones?
Network of thrones (2016)
Pop CultureMedicine
Did Pokémon GO actually get people moving?
Gotta catch’em all! Pokémon GO and physical activity among young adults: difference in differences study (2016)
Pop Culture
Is Super Mario scientifically hard?
Classic Nintendo games are (computationally) hard (2015)
Pop CulturePhysics
How do you design a real wormhole for a film?
Visualizing Interstellar’s wormhole (2015)
PsychologyPop Culture
Are some scientists more famous than their research?
The Kardashian index: a measure of discrepant social media profile for scientists (2014)
Pop CulturePhysics
How did Disney make the snow in Frozen look real?
A material point method for snow simulation (2013)
Animals
Can you build a robot the size of a bee?
Controlled flight of a biologically inspired, insect-scale robot (2013)
Food ✦ Ig Nobel 2023
Can electric chopsticks change how food tastes?
Augmented gustation using electricity (2011)
Physics
Why does a bike stay upright on its own?
A bicycle can be self-stable without gyroscopic or caster effects (2011)
PsychologyAnimals ✦ 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)
Psychology ✦ Ig Nobel 2010
Would companies run better if promotions were random?
The Peter principle revisited: A computational study (2010)
PhysicsMedicine ✦ 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)
Physics
Can sticky tape make X-rays?
Correlation between nanosecond X-ray flashes and stick–slip friction in peeling tape (2008)
Could you send the internet by waving flags?
The Transmission of IP Datagrams over the Semaphore Flag Signaling System (SFSS) (2007)
Animals
Can you write a whole paper with one word?
Chicken Chicken Chicken: Chicken Chicken (2006)
Could a computer write a paper that gets accepted?
Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy (2005)
What if hackers had to label their own evil traffic?
The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header (2003)
Pop Culture
Is Tetris officially one of the hardest problems?
Tetris is hard, even to approximate (2003)
Animals
How do you manage infinite monkeys on typewriters?
The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS) (2000)
Food
Why does the internet have an “I’m a teapot” error?
Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0) (RFC 2324) (1998)
Can pigs fly, according to internet engineers?
The Twelve Networking Truths (1996)
How many shuffles does it take to mix a deck of cards?
Trailing the dovetail shuffle to its lair (1992)
Animals
Can you send internet data by pigeon?
A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers (RFC 1149) (1990)
Food
What did Bill Gates write his only research paper about?
Bounds for sorting by prefix reversal (1979)
PhysicsAnimals
Has a cat ever co-written a physics paper?
Two-, three-, and four-atom exchange effects in bcc ³He (1975)
Food
Can one cut split a sandwich perfectly every time?
Generalized “sandwich” theorems (1942)