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Today ( Sept. 14 ) , select winners of the esteemedNobel Prizewill gather on a stage at Harvard University for a meter - honor awards display — but for a alteration , they wo n’t be the ones who are lionise . Rather , they ’ll be distributing prizes for unconventional research in an one-year ceremony known as the Ig Nobels .
Some refer to the Ig Nobels as a charade of the acclaimedNobel Prize awards , but that does n’t really do the ceremonial occasion justice . The Ig Nobels celebrate research that emerge from take interesting questions — while they do n’t of necessity address the world ’s most urgent challenge , they do present the curiosity that is an intrinsic part of experiments and discoveries .
A bemused Nobel Prize winner — and Ig Nobel presenter — participates in the closing musical number of the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.
you may watch a resilient webcast of the 27th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremonial on Live Science , with a preceremony concert that will complain off at 5:40 p.m. ET . The festivities will commence at 6:00 p.m. ET . [ In Photos : The 2016 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony ]
When ask about the inspiration for this year ’s root word — " Uncertainty " — Abrahams answer , unsurprisingly , " I ’m not sure . " But he was more forthcoming about how theIg Nobel - winning studiesare discovered and selected .
" We ’re always looking , " Abrahams say ; " we " being the Ig Nobel Board of Governors , which is made up of about 100 people who match throughout the year .
The theme of this year’s ceremony (though not necessarily of the individual prizes) is “Uncertainty."
" mass mail us things every day — people that did the research , scientist that have it away about the research , journalists who fare across stories that do n’t quite fit their beat . And whatever we do n’t pick to gain a prize one yr , if it has the right feel , we ’ll put it back in the pool , " Abrahams explain .
inquiry does n’t have to be published within a devote class to be considered for that twelvemonth ’s prizes — in 2001 , the Ig Nobels progress to back to the 1940s to acknowledge the contribution of people who lay the groundwork for a popular concept known as " Murphy ’s law , " stating that anything that can go haywire , will go haywire , Abrahams told Live Science .
In the 27 class since the first prizes were turn over out , the indispensable ideaof the Ig Nobelshas remain unchanged . But the ceremonial occasion was in its 7th or eighth yr before the organizers stumbled across a way to accurately account what the prizes were really all about , Abrahams recalled .
Thomas Thwaites' artificial limbs granted him goat-like movement, but understandably hindered his ability to perform certain activities typically associated with humans — such as accepting an Ig Nobel award.
" I was talking to a reporter who misunderstood wholly ; he thought the Ig Nobels were about rewarding terrible thing , " Abrahams state . He responded with what has since become the signature tune verbal description of the Ig Nobels — that they greet achievements " that firstmake people laugh , and then make them think . "
For Abrahams — and for the Ig Nobels — that was a turn breaker point in defining what the awards represented .
" I heard that the newsman immediately understood — and it work every fourth dimension , " Abrahams said . " That was almost 20 years ago , but it made a spectacular dispute . "
Last year ’s winnerscertainly meet that criteria . The 2016 Ig Nobel for economics went to researchers who questioned whether rock-and-roll had personality " from a sale and merchandising perspective , " while the Ig Nobel for music went to five scientists who revealed that a someone could relieve an itch on their left weapon by looking in a mirror and scratch up their good arm .
A victor of the Ig Nobel for biology , Thomas Thwaites , designed novel prosthetics so that he could modify his limb to take the air on four legslike a goat ; he then roamed the Alps in the company of goats , a process he document in the book " GoatMan : How I took a Holiday from Being Human " ( Princeton Architectural Press , 2016 ) . Thwaites wore his goat prosthetics onstage at the Ig Nobels to collect his booty , which proved to be somewhat thought-provoking — since his subdivision were stick in into the prosthetics , he had to accept the prize using his mouth .
And what can Ig Nobel attendees and viewers expect to see this twelvemonth ?
" The unexpected , of course ! That ’s the whole full point , " Abrahams told Live Science . " You ’ll be surprised in mode that will delight you straight off , or down the road . "
Original clause onLive Science .
