Here is this year’s list. Example:
Ornithology – Ivan R. Schwab, of the University of California, Davis, and the late Philip R.A. May of the University of California, Los Angeles, for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don’t get headaches.
The funny thing is that just about all of these, even the hiccups one, represent real research. Seriously. Here is further background.
So what does it mean that there was no economics Ig Nobel winner this year?
Yeah, I agree. The woodpecker research might be very useful for designing football and racing helmets, both of which certainly multi-million dollar industries.
An honor? Look at the awards given before 1999. They started out as critical, but then they just mention research on topics that seems foolish. I agree with Joe Grossberg. One never knows what contribution research may offer.
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