A study on alcohol as a foreign language learning tool has won the IG Nobel Peace, in a series of satirical prizes that distinguished unusual experiences by scientists from around the world.
A scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research Awards the prizes annually for 35 years to the investigation that “laugh first, then think”, with the aim of arousing curiosity.
Scientists from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany won the IG Nobel Peace for an investigation on Thursday, which concluded that a Small sip of alcohol sometimes improves the ability to speak a foreign language by increasing self -confidence.
The authors, who performed tests with Germano-OLDERNES students, warned, however, that the alcohol It is not necessary to learn languages and underlined that it is harmful to health, especially in high doses.
At the ceremony, organized at the University of Boston, the Aviation Nobel Prize also involved alcohol.
Researchers from Colombia, Spain and other countries have found that the substance represents a danger to a kind of bat that consumes it inadvertently in some fruits.
Egyptian bats, the investigators observed, had the flight capacity impaired by fruit ingestion with 1% alcohol, with the ecolocation to be impaired due to communication difficulties.
“Scientists are not that square and so serious, and can have fun while showing interesting science“, These Francisco Sanchezone of the Colombian investigators who studied drunk bats.
The gala, interrupted as a tradition of paper aircraft launches and featured a short opera dedicated to digestive problems, brought together scientists and economists who had received the true Nobel Prizes and who were in charge of presenting the satirical premiums.
Other Bizarre Awards
In the section of chemicalone study concluded that the Teflona plastic material commonly found in products such as frying pan can be a component of a diet to lose weightsince it has no calories and is not absorbed by the body.
This study, conducted by scientists from Israel and the United States, was performed only in rats. After three months of 25% teflon diet, animals lost weight and no toxic effects were recorded, according to the authors.
Other award -winning findings included Babies that seem to taste and appreciate the garlic eaten by mothers during breastfeeding, Iguanas who love pizza of four cheeses in togo and paint a cow with zebra stripes To suffer less fly bites.
“When I did this experience, I expected to win the Nobel IG. It’s my dream. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable, ”he said Tomoki Kojimawhose team stuck tape in Japanese cows and then painted black stripes with spray.
The award of physical was for a group of researchers, mostly Italians, who investigated the “Transition phase” that spoils the classic pasta dish ‘Cacio and Pepe’ (cheese and pepper) with “unpleasant lumps”.
Other experiences addressed issues such as what happens when a narcissist is informed that he is intelligent – who won the psychology award – or how Malcheinos shoes affect the experience of wearing a shoe rack – Engineering award.
One of the awards, from literaturewas posthumously attributed to the American scientist William Bean, who studied the growth of his own nails for 35 years.
The prize was received by one of the children, who recalled the contagious passion of the father and expressed gratitude for “recognition, finally!”.
