Ig Nobel Prizes - 2009

The Ig Nobel Prizes are bestowed annually by some zany people at Harvard University. They go to bona fide researchers whose projects sometimes leave us ordinary folks scratching our heads.

Here are some of the 2009 winners... .

PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE
    Went to Elena Bodnar and others "for inventing a brassiere than in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of gas masks." FYI, this has been patented (US Patent # 7,255,627). A demonstration of the invention is pictured above. .

VETERINARY MEDICINE PRIZE
    Awarded to Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson "for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless". 258 liters more per year, for those who are interested.

PEACE PRIZE
    Went to researchers at the University of Bern "for determining - by experiment - whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle." In case you're wondering, try to get hit with an empty one. .

BIOLOGY PRIZE
    To scientists at Japan's Kitasato University "for demonstrating that kitchen refuse can be reduced more than 90% in mass by using bacteria extracted from the feces of giant pandas." Yeah, I'm ordering a couple of Ling-Lings tonight. .

CHEMISTRY PRIZE
    To Miguel Apatiga and co-workers who discovered a way to make diamonds out of tequila. . You can find these, and the rest of the awards (Economics, Medicine, and Physics) in National Geogrpahic's article here.