搞笑諾貝爾獎 Ig Nobel prize

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胸罩快速變身防毒面具　搞笑諾貝爾頒獎表揚
2009/10/02 10:45
（路透華盛頓1日電）

工程師發明可快速變成防毒面具的胸罩、病理學家們確定即使是
空的啤酒瓶也足以敲破腦袋、還有錯將罰單開給了「駕照」的
愛爾蘭警察，他們今天都獲得「搞笑諾貝爾獎」（Ig Nobel ）。

這項獎項也頒給辛巴威，因該國紙鈔面額自一分到100兆辛巴威
幣都有；自龍舌蘭中製造出鑽石的墨西哥科學家；虧損慘重的4
家冰島銀行董事、主管和稽核也因為這項大失敗而獲獎。

「搞笑諾貝爾獎」（Ig Nobel）獎項由總部位於哈佛的「科學幽
默雜誌」（Annals of Improbable Research magazine）及
共同贊助哈佛─拉得克利夫科幻小說協會（Harvard-Radcliffe
　Science Fiction Association)等單位頒發，利用每年10月在
瑞典斯德哥爾摩（Stockholm）及挪威奧斯陸（Oslo）所頒發
諾貝爾獎的名稱搞笑。
中央社（翻譯）

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Gas mask bra traps Ig Nobel prize
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

Designers of a bra that turns into gas masks and a team
who found that named cows produce more milk were
among the winners of the 2009 Ig Nobel prizes.

The aim of the awards is to honour achievements that
"first make people laugh and then make them think".

The peace prize went to a Swiss research team who
determined whether it is better to be hit over the head
with a full or empty bottle of beer.

The ceremony was organised by the magazine Annals
of Improbable Research.

Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson from the agriculture,
food and rural development department of Newcastle
University were the only UK recipients.

She said that discovering cows with names were more
prolific milk-producers emerged during research into
improving dairy cow welfare.

The overall aim of the study was to reduce stress and
fear by improving "the human-animal relationship".

"[This research] showed that the majority of UK dairy
farmers are caring individuals who respect and love their
herd," she said.

Risky celebrations

The Ig Nobel Prizes were presented to the winners by
genuine Nobel laureates.

Dr Elena Bodnar won the public health prize for the bra
that, in an emergency, can be converted into two gas
masks.

She demonstrated her invention and gave one to each
of the Nobel laureates as a gift.

Professor Martin Chalfie, who won the Nobel prize for
chemistry in 2008, was this year's prize in the "win a
date with a Nobel laureate" contest.

Appropriately, the prize for economics went to the
executives of four Icelandic banks.

The governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank received the
prize for mathematics for printing bank notes with such
a wide range of denominations.

The full list of winners:

Veterinary medicine: Catherine Douglas and Peter
Rowlinson of Newcastle University, UK, for showing that
cows with names give more milk than cows that are
nameless.

Peace: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg,
Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of
Bern, Switzerland, for determining whether it is better to
be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or
with an empty bottle.

Biology: Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei
of Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Sciences
in Sagamihara, Japan, for demonstrating that kitchen refuse
can be reduced more than 90% in mass by using bacteria
extracted from the faeces of giant pandas.

Medicine: Donald L Unger of Thousand Oaks, California,
US, for investigating a possible cause of arthritis of the
fingers, by diligently cracking the knuckles of his left
hand but not his right hand every day for more than 60
years.

Economics: The directors, executives, and auditors of
four Icelandic banks for demonstrating that tiny banks
can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice
versa (and for demonstrating that similar things can be
done to an entire national economy).

Physics: Katherine K Whitcome of the University of
Cincinnati, Daniel E Lieberman of Harvard University and
Liza J. Shapiro of the University of Texas, all in the US,
for analytically determining why pregnant women do not
tip over.

Chemistry: Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor M
Castano of Universidad Nacional Autonoma in Mexico,
for creating diamonds from tequila.

Literature: Ireland's police service for writing and presenting
more than 50 traffic tickets to the most frequent driving
offender in the country - Prawo Jazdy - whose name in
Polish means "Driving Licence".

Public Health: Elena N Bodnar, Raphael C Lee, and
Sandra Marijan of Chicago, US, for inventing a bra that
can be quickly converted into a pair of gas masks - one
for the wearer and one to be given to a needy bystander.

Mathematics: Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's
Reserve Bank, for giving people a simple, everyday way
to cope with a wide range of numbers by having his
bank print notes with denominations ranging from one
cent to one hundred trillion dollars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8285380.stm