Science Friday - Fingernails And Indigestion At The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Each year, the Ig Nobel Prizes recognize scientific research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think. For instance, researchers who investigated the pizza preferences of lizards on the island of Togo. Or a man who kept track of his fingernail growth for 35 years.As is Thanksgiving tradition, we’re sharing highlights from this year’s Ig Nobels on Science Friday. Annals of Improbable Research editor Marc Abrahams acts as master of ceremonies for the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes, which include 10 awards, several 24-second scientific lectures, and a mini-opera about indigestion.Guest: Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research and the founder and master of ceremonies for the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Plato. Hope you had a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving. Now, with the big feast in the past, we of course begin the long march towards the winter holidays, fueled hopefully by some leftover turkey and pie. Well, here at Science Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is our own kind of holiday observance, featuring highlights from the year's Ig Nobel Award ceremony. Now, if you're not familiar with the Iggs, they are, Science Awards for Scientific Research, Real Stuff, that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. The awards are handed out each year by the editors of the Science Humor magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research. So here's our post- Thanksgiving tradition as we hop in the Sci-Fri Time Machine to travel back to mid-September

on the campus of Boston University, where the dignitaries and dignitaries are preparing to take the stand. Leodium, neptuneum, germanium, arrecium, ruthenium, uranium, uranium, eurobrium, zirconium, rutisium, vanadium, lanthanium, and acetine, and radium, and iodineum, and thorium, and fulium and thallium, and thurium, and fulium and therium and therium, actidium, rubidium, and boron gadolinium, niobium, iridium, and strontium and silicon and silver and samarium, and cymaryum and beryum and beryum. That music may be familiar to many of you.

wrote those meticulously, ridiculously perfect lyrics and recorded that song way back in 1959. Tom Lerer was in the audience at the very first Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in 1991. He advised and helped with several of the early Ig ceremonies, especially with the operas. Tom died a few weeks ago at the age of 97. We miss him. And now, Barry Duncan will give the traditional Ig Nobel welcome, welcome speech. Welcome. Welcome. Tonight, we're going to award the 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes.

This year's winners represent many countries and exactly one planet. Now, ladies and gentlemen, literati, glitterati, pseudo-intellectuals, quasi-sudo-intellectuals, pseudo-quasi-intellectuals, large language models, very stable geniuses, has-beens, indigestibles, and the rest of you. May I introduce our Master of Ceremonies, the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, Chief Airhead, Mark Abrams. Tonight, we honor some remarkable individuals and groups. Every Ig Nobel Prize winner has done something that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony is produced by the magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research,

and produced in collaboration with the Boston University College of Communications. The editors of the Annals of Improbable Research have chosen a theme for this year's ceremony. That theme is digestion. The theme may or may not apply to particular prizes. Tonight, 10 prizes will be given. The achievements speak for themselves.

The prizes will be presented to the winners by Nobel laureates. Please welcome the Nobel laureates who will hand out the prizes. Let's give each of them a hand. A 2003 Nobel laureate in chemistry. Mungi, Bowendi.

2007 Nobel laureate in economics. Eric Maskin. 2019, Nobel laureate in economics. Esther, Duflo. 1997, Nobel laureate in economics. Robert Merton,

a 2022 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Svante Pable, 2019 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. William Kaelin A 1990 Nobel Laureate in Physics. Jerome Friedman is again unable to be here tonight. But here he is, via the magic of recorded video.

Congratulations. I hope you are enjoyed. join this as much as I am. Thank you, Professor Friedman. As you know, we used to have a problem in this ceremony. Many of the speakers would exceed their allotted time. Here's how

we have traditionally solved that problem. Please welcome the charming, delightful, ever so cute, eight-year-old Miss Sweetie Pooh. Sort of. Well, unfortunately, the

real Miss Sweetie-Poo was not able to be here tonight. And so the role of Miss Sweetie Poo will be performed by a last minute older, larger substitute. Our Major Domo Gary Dreyfus. Miss Sweetie Poo, would you demonstrate what you'll do when somebody exceeds his or her allotted time? Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored.

Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Thank you, Ms. Thank you, Ms.

Thank you, Ms. Stop. I'm bored. Please stop. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now gets set for the 24-7 lectures.

We've invited several of the world's top thinkers to tell us very briefly what they're thinking about. Each 24-7 lecturer will explain their subject twice. First, a complete technical description in 24 seconds. And then, after a brief pause, a clear summary that anyone can understand in seven words. The 24-second time limit will be enforced by the time enforcer. This first 24-7 lecture will be delivered by Ben Smith, director of the Manel Chemical Census Center. and co-winner of the 2005 Ig Nobel Biology Prize. He won that prize for painstakingly smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors

produced by 131 different species of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed. The topic, taste, smell, and digestion. First complete technical description of the subject in 2020. 24 seconds. On your mark. Get set. Go. Smell and taste per calicoleural roles in the spallic phase of digestion, initiating salivation and gastric secretions before food even enters the mouth. Alphactory and gastatory stimuli trigger neural pathways that prime the gastrointestinal tract. Interoception, the sensing of internal bodily states,

regulates digestive feedback, modulating enzyme release, motility, and satiety signals. Together, these systems integrate sensory input with physiological responses to optimize nutrient breakdown and absorption. And now a clear summary that anyone can understand in seven words. On your mark, get set, go. Brain to gut, we've got incoming snacks. To honor the next 24-7 lecturer, we ask you, everyone in the audience, who has one, to reach into your pocket, take your smartphone, and hold it aloft.

Okay, everyone here on the stage, you too. This 24-7 lecture will be delivered by Trisha Pasricha, gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-author of the medical study titled Smartphone Use on the Toilet and the Risk of Hemorrhoids. The topic of this lecture, smartphones, bones and the risk of hemorrhoids. First, a complete technical description of the subject in

24 seconds. On your mark, get set. Go. We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults undergoing screening colonoscopy and observed that the majority reported employing portable handheld computing devices during defecatory episodes. A multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated that defecation-associated computing device utilization was independently associated with a 46% and increased odds of endoscopically verified hemorrhoidal disease. And now a clear summary that anyone can understand in seven words. On your mark, get set, go. Smartphones are a pain in the butt.

We have to take a break. Here's a taste of this year's Ignobell mini opera entitled The Plight of the Gastroenterologist. How many bones survive when they get swine, Followed my best guess is 25, but it's a mystery. Maybe just the big bones do. They get digested to some degree. I'm going to test it.

No guesswork, let's really see. To solve the mystery, watch me swallow a shrew. We'll be right back with more. from the Ig Nobel Awards in just a moment. Stay with us. The Gulf of Gopher could swallow a juicy rat. I'm Ira Plato, and you're listening to Science Friday from WNYC Studios. This is Science Friday.

I'm Ira Plato, and in case you're just joining us, we're playing highlights from this year's Ig Nobel Awards ceremony. Here's Ig Nobel Master of Ceremonies, Mark Aver. And now let's get it over with Ladies and gentlemen, the awarding of the 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes. We're giving out 10 prizes. The winners come from many nations. This year's winners have truly earned their prizes. Karen, tell the winners what they've won. This year's winners will each receive an Ig Nobel Prize. This year's prize is a model of a human stomach. The two sides of the stomach each resemble a human face.

One face is happy and one face is grumpy. Thank you, Karen. This year, 2025, long-distance travel suddenly became more challenging. Some of the prize-winning teams are not able to come to the ceremony. So instead, each of those teams sent an acceptance speech. And those acceptance speeches will be read aloud on their behalf during this ceremony by Nobel laureates. And now here are the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize winners. The Literature Prize.

The winner is from the USA. The Ig Nobel Literature Prize is awarded to the late Dr. William B. Bean for persistently recording and analyzing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years. Please welcome Dr. Bean's son, Bennett Bean, who will accept the prize on behalf of his father. Thank you all. As you can see, I have done nothing to receive this prize. My father, however, did a great deal to receive this prize. For years, he has done nothing to receive this prize. For years, he was. he measured the length of his fingernails. He also would use the family to check.

So we all had our fingernails done. And he would file a little mark and then watch carefully as they grew. I am one of two survivors of his patient pool because one of the wonderful things about doing a long-term experiment on yourself is you never lose anybody to do it on. As long as you're alive, you have a subject, and there are no legal complications either.

It's simple. You're there, your fingernails are there, and you can continue endlessly to measure them. So I would like to thank you all very much for the honor. Now, in the case of the honor, it seems to me that the committee waited a little too long because my father died before he could receive it. But then you're never sure about what you're going to be remembered for after you're dead. Thank you all. The Psychology Prize.

Winners are from Poland, Australia, and Canada. The Ig Nobel Psychology Prize is awarded to Marsen Zajunkowski and Jill Jinyak for investigating what happens. when you tell narcissists or anyone else that they are intelligent. Okay, Gilles, so this is how the ignoble audience looks like. It does look like a random sample, but also a lot of randoms. Hold on, hold on. I think that this side is very intelligent. This side, Marsan, not so intelligent on this side.

Okay, okay, let's measure the narcissism. My smart side, on escape from 1 to 5, how narcissistic do you feel right now? I get the mean of 3.98. Okay, now this not so side, what's the narcissism level? 1 per 5? Give me some numbers? We get some numbers. Okay, Marsen, it's coming out to 3.71. Okay, okay, let's do some stats. It's p equals 0.04. And that is statistically significant.

See, see, I told you that telling people they are smart increases their narcissism. In conclusion, if you're special and you know it, clap your hands. If you're special and you know it, clap your hands. If you're special and you know it and you really want to show it, if you're special and you know it, clap your hands. The nutrition. Prize. The winners are from Nigeria,

Togo, Italy, and France. The Ignobel Nutrition Prize is awarded to Danielle Dendi, Gabriel Sena Beto, Roger Meek, and Luca Luiselli for studying the extent to which a certain kind of lizard chooses to eat certain kinds of pizza. The winners could not travel to the USA. Their acceptance speech will be read

on their behalf by Nobel laureate Esther Duflo. This is an acceptance speech for the 2025 Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize. It was written by one of the co-winner, Luca Luiziali. I'm delivering the speech on his behalf as well as on behalf of the French person, which I can, dear organizers,

dear all, thank you, thank you so much. I am deeply honored and slightly confused to receive the ignoble prize. When we began studying urban agamas

snacking on discarded pizza in seaside resorts in Togo, we never dreamed. It would lead to international recognition. Of course, as every good Italian, I knew that four cheese pizza is irresistible. But honestly, our lizards did really well, better than any Italian lizard. My colleagues, Professor Gabriel Senegat Beto and Dr. Roger Mick and Daniel Dendi and I simply wanted to answer the age-old scientific question. What happens?

when a lizard discovers cheese and carbs. Now we know, and the answer is, they behave like Italians. I want to thank my dedicated team of researchers who endured sunburns, pizza cravings, and one particularly aggressive seagull. A special thank to the agamas themselves for their bold dietary choices

and unapologetic love of. of cheeses. This work proves that adaptation, like science, can be strange, surprising, and occasionally delicious. May we all continue to pursue questions that first make us love, and then make us think. Thank you very much for the appreciation. A pediatrics prize. The winners are from the USA, the Igno Bell, P.D.A. Matrix Prize is awarded to Julie Manila and Gary Beachum for studying what a nursing baby experiences when the baby's mother eats garlic. Thank you for celebrating our work that what mothers eat flavors or milk and we later went on to show also amniotic fluid. At the time mothers were advised to eat a bland diet for fear the baby would reject her milk.

On the contrary, infants savored the flavor of garlic and other flavors in which she ate. In other words, don't dismiss mothers and don't dismiss garlic. Gary? So when I started my research career, I got a call from NSF where I had a grant and told me he had some bad news for me. I had just been a finalist in something called the Golden Fleece Awards. Some of you nearly know what those are. There are nothing you want to be. because they're for the stupidest, dumbest,

biggest waste of money for the government for science. And I said, well, why did I get it? And he said, well, your title and your grant was about guinea pigs, sex, and smell. And that was sufficient. So luckily, I didn't get the final award, thank goodness. But this is sort of the culmination of that where I've given up on the sex and the guinea pigs,

but stuck with the smell and it is really smelly. Please stop, I'm bored. Please stop, I'm bored. Please stop, I'm bored. Thank you. The Biology Prize. The winners are from Japan.

The Igno Bell Biology Prize is awarded Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi, Samatsubari, Yuki Uchiyama, Yosehiko Fukushima, Neutu Aoki, Say, Sato, Tatsuaki, Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroki Hirouka, sorry, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and Katsutoshi Kino. For their experiments to learn whether cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid being bitten by lies. Ladies and gentlemen, we are deeply honored to receive this award, and we are grateful to our

colleagues, friends, and families, and we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to organizers and the esteemed panel of judges. Stripes, this courage, biting fries from landing using cow-pity, disabled like stripes, like this. Thank you. very much. The Chemistry Prize. The Ignobel Chemistry Prize is awarded to Rotem Naftolovich, Daniel Naftolovich, and Frank Greenway for experiments to test whether eating Teflonon, a form of plastic, more formally called polytetrafluoroethylene, is a good way to increase food volume and hence satiety, without increasing calorie content. The winners could not travel to the ceremony.

Their acceptance speech would be read on their behalf by Nobel laureate Mungi Bawendi. This is the acceptance speech for the 2025 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize. It was written by co-winner Rotem Naftolovich. I am delivering this speech on his behalf. Esteemed colleagues,

confused relatives, and curious bystanders. Thank you. I am deeply honored to receive the Ig Nobel Prize for research that makes people laugh, that makes them think,

and occasionally makes them question my judgment. Science is a journey paved with strange questions and sometimes stranger answers. May we never run out of either, Thank you.

It's time for more 24-7 lectures. This 24-7 lecture will be delivered by Deborah Anderson, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology at Boston University's Chobanian and Abedesian School of Medicine, and co-winner of the 2008 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize. She won that prize for discovering that Coca-Cola, is an effective spermicide under some conditions. The topic, cola.

First, a complete technical description of the subject in 24 seconds. On your mark, get set, go. When Coca-Cola was invented in 1888, it contained a potent mix of cocaine and caffeine and was marketed as a medicinal syrup for the treatment of morphine addiction in an array of neurologic and digestive disorders. Cocaine was removed in 1906 and carbonated water was added, transforming it into the iconic drink we know today. Over 1.8 billion drinks are sold each day on Earth.

And now a clear summary that anyone can understand in seven words. On your mark, get set, go. Coca-Cola, refreshing spritzer or mysterious elixir. The awards are presented by the editors of the Science Humor magazine, annals of Improbable Research. You can find out more about them at improbable.com. Coming up, more highlights from this year's 35th first annual Ig Nobel Awards. Stay with us.

I'm Irafledo, and you're listening to Science Friday from WNYC Studios. This is Science Friday, I'm Iraflato. And we now return you to highlights from this year's Ig Nobel Awards ceremony. Research that first makes you like. and then makes you think, recorded in September of this year at Boston University. Here's Ig Nobel Master of Ceremonies, Mark Abrams. The Peace Prize.

The winners are from the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany. The Ignobel Peace Prize is awarded to Fritz Renner, Inger Kersbergen, Matt Field, and Jessica Virtman for showing that drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak in a foreign language. The winners could not travel to the USA. Their acceptance speech will be read

on their behalf by Nobel laureates Svante Pébo and Robert Merton. This is acceptance speech for the 27 Nobel Ig Nobel Peace Prize. I'm delivering this speech on their behalf, as you understand. We made an important discovery. Drunken Germans usually pronounce Dutch better than sober Germans. And it's not just that the drinkers thought their Dutch was better.

Independent raters judged their pronunciation as clearer. Like many great scientific ideas, the idea of this study actually came up at an international conference in the evening at a bar. It started with colleagues from different countries speaking different languages and sometimes yoking. I swear I speak better Dutch after a glass of wine. Rather than leaving it at that, we decided to test it properly. What we found was fascinating.

A low dose of alcohol, less than a dose of alcohol, less than a very much. a pint of beer, did make people think they spoke Dutch better, but independent raiders actually judged their pronunciation to be clearer. In short, a small sip seemed to boost confidence without making the words fall apart. Now before anyone rushes to claim language lessons as tax-deductible bar bills, let us stress. We do not recommend alcohol as a tool to learn a new language. At higher doses, it seriously impairs memory, attention, and behavior. The very skills you need to learn a language, and frankly, to function in everyday life. So thank you. you again for this recognition. We take the science seriously, even if we started with a laugh

over a drink. We want to thank our co-authors, Inge Kerskbergen, and Matt Field, as well as everyone who supported this research, most of all the students who were involved in the study and data collection. Thank you. The Engineering Design Prize. The winners are from India. The Ig Nobel Engineering Design Prize is awarded to Vyakash Kumar and Sarthak Mittal for analyzing from an engineering design perspective how foul-smelling shoes affect

the good experience of using a shoe rack. The winners could not travel to the United States. And so we've arranged that their acceptance speech will be read on their behalf by Nobel laureates Eric Maskin and William Kalin. So this is the acceptance speech for the 2025 Ig Nobel Engineering Design Prize. It was written by co-winner Vakash Kumar and I am delivering this speech on behalf of Vakash Kumar. Namastei. It took a few emails from Mark and even a video call to commits us that it was not a prank. So thank you, Mark, the review members, and Susan Canny,

who thoughtfully ordered lavender sachets for our shoe rack, will collect them when we meet you. Beyond the fun and laughter tonight, let us briefly paint a picture to show the seriousness of the problem. Imagine you're on a plane or a bus, and your fellow passenger decides to get a little. little more comfortable by removing their shoes. If they're smelly, a part of you experiences hell.

No perfume can mask it. Sometimes it makes a worse cocktail. This project began as a student assignment by my co-author Sarkak, who noticed shoes kept outside hostile rooms. At first, we thought it was simply due to a lack of shoe racks, but soon we discovered the real reason, the smell. One student even joked, either the shoes

stays in the room, or we do. The funniest part, testing the smell levels. Censors failed us, so we recruited brave human noses. Special thanks to Caronvier and Sanjoy for lending them to science. By now I suspect that the bananas are growing restless, so let us conclude. This journey taught us two things, design doesn't always start glamorous. It often begins with noticing the ordinary and refusing to ignore it. And solving real problems takes more than disciplinary knowledge, from engineering to design, to life sciences. Thank you for celebrating our work. We hope it made you laugh first and then think. Have a wonderful evening. Namaste. This next 24-7, lecture will be delivered by Gus Rancatory, proprietor of Toscanini's ice cream shop.

The topic, ice cream. First, complete technical description of the subject in 24 seconds. On your mark, get set, go. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum, yum. And now a clear summary that anyone can understand in seven words. On your mark, get set. Go.

Yum. Yum. Yum, yum. Yum. The aviation prize. The winners are from Colombia, Israel, Argentina, Germany, the UK, Italy, the USA, Portugal, and Spain. The Ig Nobel Aviation Prize is awarded to Francisco Sanchez, Mariana, Melcon, Karmie Corrine, and Barry Pinchot for studying whether ingesting alcohol can impair bats' ability to fly and also their ability to echo locate. Okay, and this is a big honor. Thank you very much. Research was about making some parties.

for bats and we have to provide them some ethanol. The problem is that the bats didn't like it. Thanks very much for those people who thought our research was enlightening and mightly ridiculous. And of course, to our families that have been supporting these nocturnal obsessions. Robert Dudley inspired most of the research

we did at that moment and Bert Kotler helped us with some forging theory. And of course, Unijanos helped me getting here, so that's a bit important. And what's that? Oh, Mr. Bat, are you OK? Well, yes, I think I am. You look a bit strange.

You are flying kind of funny, and you're speaking kind of gibberish. Really? Yeah, you look nervous too. But what happened to you? What were you doing? Well, I was eating just some. interesting fig so well

Mr. Bat is good I found you because if we were found by some of those solves that over there you would be part of the Predator Channel Please stop I'm bored That man is scary Thank you

Bye bye The The Prize First are from Italy Spain, Germany and Austria The Ignobel Physics Prize is awarded to Jacamo Bartolucci, Daniel Maria Bousiello,

Mateo Chiarchi, Alberto Coticelli, Ivan de Terlizzi, Fabrizio Omeda, Davida Ravignis, and Vincenzo Maria Shimenti for discoveries about the physics of pasta sauce, especially the phase transition that can lead to clumping, which can be a cause of unpleasantness. We know you all my think that this work confirms all the stereotypes about Italians, like that we only think about food.

But this is not true. In this work, we studied the face behavior of protein mixtures. But first, let me say a few words. Chama. Chama, Tcha, ma. A perfect catcher pepepe is characterized by a silky and creamy sauce sauce that make this dish delicious and iconic. However, achieving that perfect sauce is challenging. At high temperatures, cheese proteins aggregate, form clumps and end up in a big

giant unpleasant clump, the mozzarella face. I think we discover the only case in which Italian mozzarella is a bad thing. However, there's a way to avoid it, adding starch to the sauce. Studying protein aggregates is believed to be very important in several fields. Origin of life, the formation of amyloid fibres in Alzheimer. Today is also

very important to create a perfect catcher paper. We ask all the winners, all the Nobel laureates, the 24-7 lectures, and the other ceremony participants to gather here now on stage for a pointless photo opportunity. Please line up here. Feel free to applaud if you so choose. As you leave the lecture hall, please help us tidy up. There are a few paper airplanes here. If you see a stray paper airplane, please gather it and maybe ask an Ig Nobel Prize winner to sign

that paper airplane, transforming it into a historic item. Now, Barry Duncan will give the traditional Ig Nobel goodbye, goodbye speech. Good bye, goodbye. Thank you for joining us at the 35th first annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. We estimate that next year's ceremony will be the 36th first annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Now, on behalf of Improbable Research, and on behalf of the Boston University College of communication. Please remember this final thought. If you didn't win an Ig Nobel Prize this year, and especially if you did, better luck next year. Thank you. And that about wraps it up for us.

Thanks to Mark Abrams and everyone at the Annals of Improbable Research, you can find out more about them at improbable.com. We're going to leave you with a sampling from this year's Ignobell mini opera entitled The Plight of the Gastroenterologist. Here's a little taste of the opera. Well, my first grateful patient has brought a gift to me. A pizza with pepperoni. Well, my second grateful patient has brought a gift to me two chili dogs and a pizza with pepperoni.

And of course, if you've missed any part of the program or you would like to hear it again, subscribe to our podcasts or point your device to our website at ScienceFriday.com. You can join us on social media all week and check out all our great newsletters too. And you can email us the old-fashioned classic wit, SciFri at ScienceFriday.com. Have a great holiday weekend. I'm Ira Plato. This episode was produced by Charles Berkowitz. I'm Ira Flato. Thanks for listening.