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Each month our very own Voyager Science Queen* will bring you interesting, quirky and downright bizarre tasty morsels from the world of science. And its all completely, totally, 100% true!

Science Page May 2010

The Ig Nobels

Everyone has heard of the Nobel Prizes, a set of prizes annually awarded for cultural and scientific brilliance. However, there are also the Ig Nobels, a parody of the Nobels. Now, Ig Nobels aren't awarded to the worst cultural or scientific 'discoveries'; instead, they are awarded to advancements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."

The Nobel Prize Foundation was set up by Alfred Nobel, the chemist who invented dynamite. The story is that Albert had the chance to read his own obituary, which turned out to be a very unpleasant experience, as he was nicknamed the 'merchant of death'. Who wants to be remembered in such a negative manner? So he changed his will so that his fortune was to reward those people who advanced mankind the sciences, literature and peace.

The Ig Nobels are awarded around the same time as the Nobel Prizes, and are not run as part of the Nobel Prize Foundation. The Ig Nobels are awarded for real achievements, but achievements that might seem strange or humorous at first glance. They are mainly to honour the weird but imaginative and innovative ideas; or to honour those people that think outside the square and push the envelope; or sometimes are awarded to those people who forward mankind by being an example of what NOT to do.

The Ig Nobels are awarded by the Improbable Research organisation, whose banner I have previously quoted: first make people laugh, and then make them think. They started the Ig Nobels with the intention of spurring people interest in science and technology. On their site, they also have an Isaac Asimov quote (which is what drew my interest in the first place): "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but, 'That's funny..."

Last year's winners included chemists who created diamonds from tequila; another group who cultivated bacteria from Giant Panda's faeces, for use in reducing kitchen waste; and a man who cracked the knuckles of just one hand daily for fifty years, to see if this might be a possible cause of arthritis. And they are not the weirdest by a long shot.

So, I would recommend you keep an eye out for this year's Ig Nobels. They are great fun, and you will learn something.

*The Voyager Science Queen is also known as Lynne Lumsden Green

So, who is this woman who attempts to entertain us with Science?

Lynne Lumsden Green lives on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, and attends the University of the Sunshine Coast. Ever the perpetual student, she is adding a B.A. in Creative Writing to her B.SC. in Zoology (Jennifer Fallon is her role model). As one of the founding members of Scriber Space, the site for USC creative writers, she hopes to create a writing community as lively and as close as the Voyager writing community. She spends her non-study hours volunteering for writing-related events, writing, reading, and – oh yes – looking after her family. She is still passionately interested in anything and everything, and enjoys the opportunity to share this passion via the Science Page. Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, Neil Gaiman, and all the Voyager authors are her favourite people on the planet...and one of her goals is to meet all of those authors, well, at least those authors still in the land of the living. Recently, her own writing efforts have been meeting with better success. She is putting this down to her excellent lecturers and persistence, and to the fact that you can eat chocolate while typing.

Read previous Sci-Facts

Looking for more scientific oddities? Have you checked out Dr Steven Juan's website? He is, quite literally, the wizard of odds!