The recognition and prestige of a Nobel prize for ground-breaking work comes with a gold medal and the equivalent of a million dollars. The parody version, an Ig Nobel prize, devised to celebrate research that makes people laugh, and then think, might not deliver on the cash front, but it does bring considerable renown. This year's Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on 3 September at a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. They include a biomechanics prize for creating a precise definition of kissing, which works across species and excludes the transfer of food during the act1, a physics award that aims to please with experiments to design a splash-free urinal2 and a soil-science award for investigating what happens if you bury and then dig up 1,000 pairs of underwear3 (see 'The 2026 Ig Nobel prizewinners in full'). 'I hope that, as well as finding the research amusing, people will come away thinking a little differently about our place in the animal kingdom,' says Matilda Brindle, an...
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