Why is the Shnobel Prize awarded? For the most ridiculous inventions and studies of scientists, which are sometimes brought to the point of absurdity. This award is the opposite of the Nobel Prize. Consider the most interesting cases of the last award, as well as original moments from past ceremonies.
What is given for the Shnobel Prize?
The 27th ceremony was held at Harvard University. As you know, the award is awarded for dubious and fake achievements in terms of science. The winner receives 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, which, due to crazy inflation, have long been withdrawn from circulation. It is worth noting that in 2009 in Zimbabwe a loaf of bread cost 50 trillion. In addition, each participant receives one minute for public speaking. This time, the little girl interrupted the laureates, saying that they are boring and uninteresting.
Physics
In this category, Marc Antoine Fardin won, declaring that cats can exist not only in their usual state, but also accept a solid, liquid and gaseous configuration. According to the scientist, the ability to fill vessels with cats refers to the parameters of the liquid, and the full coverage of the volume is ranked as a gas criterion.
World Prize Category
In this part of the audience, no less interesting statement was expected than a treatise on the rheology of cats. The "award" went to a team of scientists who announced the discovery of a new method of treating snoring. This know-how has become an original musical instrument - didgeridoo. According to many months of research by a group of enthusiasts, playing on this device is able to provide a quiet sleep for relatives and friends after four months of operating the product with snoring. By itself, didgeridoo is a hollow trunk of a eucalyptus tree used by Australian aborigines as a kind of wind instrument.
Biology and hydrodynamics
Here the palm went to Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites. The Shnobel Prize was awarded to these scientists for an attempt to transform into an alpine goat. For three days, Thomas grazed in the meadows, using special prostheses to maximize the living conditions of a cloven-hoofed animal. It is worth noting that Foster also turned into animals. He, in the role of a fox, delved into trash cans, slept in gardens. The purpose of the study is to get rid of the stressful state created by modern civilization, and a better understanding of animal life.
The funniest Shnobel Prizes include the award received by scientists from Korea and the USA. Their study consisted of learning the most convenient way to transport coffee. It turned out that it was best to carry the drink, so as not to spill it, in a wine glass (when walking fast). Slow movement involves the use of a standard cup, and the most effective method is to cover the cup with the palm of your hand, while going backwards.
Medicine and Obstetrics
In the Shnobel Prize, the most ridiculous victories were in medicine and obstetrics. For example, neuroscientists from France presented evidence that there is an area in the human brain responsible for the love of cheese. According to their theory, in people who categorically do not perceive cheese, this part of the brain has the appearance of a pale ball and black substance.
A Spanish group of scientists conducted an equally interesting study. According to its results, a child in the womb, perceives musical works much better if they are played in the vagina. Moreover, a device for such manipulation has already been patented.
Anatomy and Economics
After the "liquid" cats, the Shnobel Prize in the field of anatomy went to British scientists. This time, the ears of the elderly became the object of study. It turned out that after thirty years this body begins to grow again. Moreover, this is more active in men than in women, due to several objective reasons.
As for the economy, here two scientists from Australia proved that the interaction of a crocodile and a person (direct contact) increases the degree of human gambling. As an experiment, they were allowed to hold the reptile in their hands, after which the player changed the style of the game, unless of course he felt discomfort and fear during contact with the alligator.
Food industry
Marc Antoine Fardin presented the theory of liquid cats, and scientists from Latin America studied bats. It turns out these animals have human DNA. We are talking about a specific form of flying rodents, the so-called "vampires." The presence of human cells is associated with a violation of the habitat of animals as a result of urbanization. In connection with these, "flyers" are forced to feed on "humanity."
Shnobel Prize: the funniest facts about famous people
In 2013, the award in question went to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. He was awarded a prize due to the fact that in order to avoid public order violations and undermine the country's authority, he passed a law prohibiting loud applause in public places. The authorities took these measures in response to protests and discontent among the population of the republic. As a punishment, a fine was awarded or 15 days of arrest. One of the most serious violators of this law was a one-armed disabled person who was supposed to pay a fine of $ 200.
Back in 1993, Robert Fade became the winner of the Shnobel Prize, who, using mathematical calculations, determined the probability of how much Gorbachev could be the Devil himself. The probability was 1 in 710 609 175 188 282 000.
Other interesting cases
In addition to the theory of rheology of cats, scientists received the Shnobel Prize for equally absurd projects. Among them:
- The posthumous award was presented to the Egyptian scientist Ahmed Shafiq. The researcher put on rats of different materials and came to the conclusion that the sexual activity of rodents decreases if they wear underwear with the addition of synthetics.
- Professor Mark Avis from New Zealand received the Shnobel Prize in Economics. She got it for work, in which he argued that the stones have a pronounced personality. This presentation fell into the realm of economics because of criticism of the popular marketing theory of Jennifer Aaker, the main idea of which was that the user perceived the brand as a celebrity, correlating brand fame with his personality. As a result, Aaker’s theory was completely destroyed.
- Christoph Helman with colleagues received the Schnobel Award in the field of medicine. Scientists have found that if a person scratches something on the right side, you need to go to the mirror and scratch a similar place on the left.
- In the nomination "Psychology", the Belgian Evelyn Deby, who studied the effect of age on the ability to lie, became a laureate. The subjects deliberately told a lie, after which the speed with which they did it was evaluated. It turned out that over the years, lying is not so simple, and teenagers are the most skillful liars.
- A pair of paleontologists from North America (B. Crandel and P. Steel) examined the remains of the inhabitants of Paleozoic. In the process, they decided to pour boiling water over the ancient petrified shrew, after which they swallowed it without chewing. The purpose of the experiment is to study the excrement released in order to understand which parts of the chitinous shell and animal bones are not exposed to the digestion process.
- The president of the Japanese Security and Investigation Agency, Takeshi Makino, has developed a special gel. He allowed to determine the betrayal of a husband to his wife. To do this, it was enough to spray the spray on a man’s underwear. After contact with the seminal fluid, the aerosol was painted in a bright green color, confirming the fact of treason.
- One American scientist won the Schnobel Prize for citing evidence of why some people are terribly uncomfortable with a creak of chalk or nail on a blackboard. It turned out that the increased volume of this sound is reminiscent of chimpanzees screaming, warning of danger.
- No less entertaining is the work of Michael Smith. He decided to find out which parts of the body react most painfully to a bee sting. To do this, he placed insects on his organs. It turned out that the genital organ, as well as the nostrils and upper lip, became the most vulnerable.
