THE IG NOBEL PRIZE 2021

For an explanation of the Ig Nobel Prize, please see the Ig Nobel Prize post for 2020 - posted 10/13/20 - (unintentionally - exactly one year ago).

Winners of the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize: 

BIOLOGY

Susanne Schotz and two others for analyzing variations in cat-human communication, including purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, and growling.

ECOLOGY

Leila Satari and three others for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in discarded wads of chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.

CHEMISTRY

Jorg Wicker and nine others for chemically analyzing the air inside movie theaters, to test whether the odors produced by an audience reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, anti-social behavior, drug use, and bad language in the movie the audience is watching.

ECONOMICS

Pavlo Blavatskyy for discovering that the obesity of a country's politicians may be a  good indicator of that country's corruption.

MEDICINE

Olcay Cem Bulut and three others for demonstrating that sexual orgasms can be as effective as decongestant medicines at improving nasal breathing.

PEACE

Ethan Beseris and two others for testing the hypothesis that humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.

PHYSICS

Alessandro Corbetta and four others for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do not constantly collide with other pedestrians.

KINETICS

Hisashi Murakami and three others for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do sometimes collide with other pedestrians.

ENTOMOLOGY

John Mulrennan, Jr.and three others for their study, " A New Method of Cockroach Control on Submarines".

TRANSPORTATION

Robin Radcliffe and twelve others for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside down.