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'Ig Nobels' Laud Goofy Science

Bra gas masks and the benefits of naming cows among the discoveries honored

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 2, 2009 1:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – The scientific world’s best and brightest gathered last night to honor the silliest. Eight Nobel laureates showed up to hand out the “Ig Nobels,” which honor funny, weird, and downright silly discoveries. The winners included:

  • Public health: Dr. Elena Bodnar, who invented a bra that can turn into two gas masks.
  • Veterinary medicine: A team that proved cows with names produce more milk than nameless ones.

  • Peace: A Swiss team that found it was better to be hit over the head with a full bottle of beer than an empty one.
  • Literature: Ireland’s police force, which has written more than 50 tickets to “Prawo Jazdy,” which is Polish for “driver’s license.”
  • Chemistry: A Mexican team that made diamonds out of tequila.
  To see the complete list, check the source.

Dr. Stephan Bolliger, MD, of the University of Bern, Switzerland, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize, smashes a mock bottle on his head during the Ig Nobel awards ceremony Thursday.
Dr. Stephan Bolliger, MD, of the University of Bern, Switzerland, co-winner of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize, smashes a mock bottle on his head during the Ig Nobel awards ceremony Thursday.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Dr. Elena Bodnar, winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize, displays a bra she designed that converts into a pair of gas masks, during theawards ceremony on Harvard's campus., Oct. 1, 2009.
Dr. Elena Bodnar, winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize, displays a bra she designed that converts into a pair of gas masks, during theawards ceremony on Harvard's campus., Oct. 1, 2009.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Dr. Elena Bodnar, winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize straps a portion of a bra she designed that turns into a pair of gas masks to Wolfgang Ketterle, 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Dr. Elena Bodnar, winner of the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize straps a portion of a bra she designed that turns into a pair of gas masks to Wolfgang Ketterle, 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
BleeBloo
Oct 5, 2009 2:55 AM CDT
ANYTHING is better than actually drinking the tequila.
Riffran
Oct 3, 2009 12:19 PM CDT
The key to the surprising discovery is tequila's ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, which lies within the "diamond growth region." The resulting diamond films could have inexpensive commercial applications as electrical insulators, say researchers Javier Morales, Luis Miguel Apátiga, and Víctor Manuel Castaño from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Morales is also with Nuevo León´s Autonomous University). Originally, the scientists were experimenting with creating diamonds from organic solutions such as acetone, ethanol, and methanol. They found that diluting ethanol in water resulted in high quality diamond films. The scientists then noticed that the ideal compound of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent water was similar to the proportion used in tequila. "To dissipate any doubts, one morning on the way to the lab I bought a pocket-size bottle of cheap white tequila and we did some tests," Apátiga said. "We were in doubt over whether the great amount of chemicals present in tequila, other than water and ethanol, would contaminate or obstruct the process, it turned out to be not so. The results were amazing, same as with the ethanol and water compound, we obtained almost spherical shaped diamonds of nanometric size. There is no doubt; tequila has the exact proportion of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms necessary to form diamonds." (I had to look it up...i'll be darned..tequilla....)
Riffran
Oct 3, 2009 12:16 PM CDT
well if it was bad tequilla....just leave the Patron and Don Juilo alone.....have to check that one out though
Science • Lifestyle • US

 
Poland • science • Ireland • Nobel Prize • Ig Nobel Prizes • Elena Bodnar

 
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