From constipated scorpions to Maya enemas: IgNobel 2022 assigned for the craziest research

Every year, for 32 years now, just before the assignment of the Nobel Prize the IgNobel, satirical awards attributed to the craziest, most curious, grotesque, and amusing research, all regularly published in scientific journals. Not only have they rewarded Education recently, but also old buried “pearls” that deserve to be brought to the international limelight, like a Japanese study on knobs which we will discuss in a while. Their goliardic ceremony organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine in collaboration with the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students also provides a cash prize, with "very rich" banknotes from 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. But even though they are considered bizarre, useless, and a "waste of resources", the IgNobel research are nevertheless a lever to reflect on the importance of scientific investigations and their implications in everyday life. It is no coincidence that the scientists are happy to win the satirical prize, which once again this year saw the triumph of Italian researchers. Here are all the winners of the IgNobel 2022. The IgNobel award for economy went to a research team of the Physics Department of the University of Catania "for explaining, mathematically, why success most of the time does not go to the most talented, but the most fortunate". Put simply, thanks to a peculiar mathematical model the physicists led by Dr. Andrea Rapisarda have shown that success does not always end in the hands of the more talented people, but in those of the individuals with a better "C factor". The IgNobel award for engineering instead went to the Japanese led by Professor Goro Imura, who in 1999 tried to determine the best method to shoot a knob, as efficiently as possible. It all depends on the diameter of the knob, which can take 2, 3, or all five fingers for more effective rotation. The IgNobel Award for Biology went to scientists Solimary García-Hernández and Glauco Machado (Brazil and Colombia) for determining how much constipation in scorpions affects their ability to reproduce. These animals as a method of defense can drop their "tail" like lizards, but unlike the latter, they also lose the anus and part of the digestive system, so they are forced to live with a certain "load" in the stretch left. The speed of males is influenced by constipation, but that of females is not, therefore the former may have more difficulty in finding a partner in this peculiar condition. The IgNobel Award for Applied Cardiology went to an international team that determined that the heartbeat of two people in love yes synchronize during a romantic date. In short, according to this study, to understand if she is the right person, just listen to her pulse. L'IgNobel per la Literature went to another international research group, which plumbed the depths of the legal documents. If they seem hard to understand and unnecessarily difficult, you are right: according to scholars, in fact, very often they are written simply badly, with too long periods, excessive use of technical terms, verbs in the passive, and other amenities that make them a real nightmare. to "translate" and interpret. Even the IgNobel for Physics is not kidding, having probed the reasons for the swimming in the training of ducklings through a mechanized mother duck, followed by the young. Scientists concluded that this type of swimming reduces water resistance and allows them to save energy. The IgNobel for the Safetywon by the young Swedish engineer Magnus Gens determined that in the event of an inevitable car accident with an elk, it is better to point towards the rear than the front of the animal. All this was demonstrated through a puppet involved in some crash tests. The problem of accidents with these mighty herbivores is significant in North America and the Scandinavian countries. L'IgNobel per la Pace instead went to an international research group that developed an algorithm capable of determining when and if it is appropriate to lie during gossip (speaking ill of someone who is not there). An Italian who works at a British university also took part in the study. To close the roundup of IgNobel 2022 the prize for Art history, went to a studio 36 years ago, one of those "buried pearls" mentioned above. In practice, from the analysis of Mayan ceramic pots, the researchers determined that this ancient person devoted themselves to intoxicants enemas with narcotic substances subverting the general thinking on the behavior of this civilization. Reference: Wikipedia