Ig Nobel prizes honor research on cockroach milk, nose-blowing and decomposing underwear

A study of cockroach milk, an investigation into the science of blowing one’s nose and an experiment involving buried underwear took center stage at this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.

Ten research teams received the satirical awards at a ceremony in Zurich on Thursday. The event, organized by the digital magazine Annals of Improbable Research, honors unusual and imaginative contributions to science with prizes that parody the Nobel awards. Winners received custom trophies resembling a cross between a mushroom and a human foot.

Among the recipients were Matilda Brindle and Stuart West of the University of Oxford and Catherine F. Talbot of the Florida Institute of Technology, who reconstructed the evolutionary history of kissing. The late Dr. Tokuji Unno received recognition for research into nose-blowing. Another team buried 1,000 pairs of underwear in more than 25 countries to examine how soil organisms helped decompose them.

This marked the first time the ceremony took place outside the United States. Organizers moved it to Europe after 35 years in the United States because of concerns about whether attendees could obtain visas. Marc Abrahams, the magazine’s editor and master of ceremonies, told The Associated Press that it had become unsafe for guests to visit the country during the past year.

Organizers plan to alternate future ceremonies between Zurich and other European countries. Antwerp, Belgium, will host the 2027 event. The Nobel prizes, which have no connection to the Ig Nobel awards, will be announced at the start of October.

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During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country