第24屆搞笑諾貝爾獎[1]的頒獎典禮,在台灣時間今天早上六點,於哈佛大學的桑德斯劇場舉行,典禮主題為「食物」。有別於真正的諾貝爾獎,頒獎給做出對人類有重大貢獻的傑出人士,搞笑諾貝爾獎則選出看似荒謬,卻引人深省的研究,以詼諧又帶點認真的態度看待科學研究,讓搞笑諾貝爾獎成為相當令人期待的科學盛事。
說到有趣的研究,第一個浮出腦中的關鍵字一定是「英國研究」,英國科學家當然不會在搞笑諾貝爾獎缺席。今年的心理學獎頒給英國的Amy Jones跟她的同事,他們發現習慣熬夜的人,通常比早起的人更自負、有控制慾和神經病態。[2]
日本科學家對小事的執著也不遑多讓,Mabuchi等人計算香蕉皮和鞋子、地面間的摩擦力,研究香蕉皮到底有多滑。[3]
神經科學獎由中國的李剛和他同事獲得,他們研究為什麼人們容易在圖像中發現人臉,像是在烤吐司上見到耶穌。[4]
公共衛生獎頒給捷克、美國、日本、印度等國的科學家,他們發表了許多研究,探討貓奴的健康風險。[5][6][7]
生物學獎頒給德國和捷克的科學家,他們發現狗狗大小便時身體的方向跟地球磁場有關,他們不確定狗狗會這麼做的原因為何,但這個發現讓科學家更擔憂磁暴對生物造成的影響。[8]
獲得藝術獎的義大利研究人員發現,看著美麗的畫作時,雷射打在手上的感覺比較不痛。[9]
榮獲經濟學獎的是義大利國家統計局,他們領先群雄、創意無限,成為第一個為了提升國民經濟,而將性交易、走私、販賣非法毒品等非法交易稅收列入計算的歐洲國家。[10][11]
醫學獎頒給美國跟印度的科學家,他們利用捲成條狀的醃豬肉,止住凝血異常患者的鼻血。[12]
北極科學獎的得主是挪威跟德國的科學家。由於北極熊會追馴鹿,他們研究發現,就算是偽裝成北極熊的研究人員,也會令馴鹿害怕。[13]
營養學獎的得主是西班牙的科學家,他從嬰兒糞便中分離乳酸菌,應用在香腸的發酵。[14]
參考資料
- Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize
- “Creatures of the Night: Chronotypes and the Dark Triad Traits,” Peter K. Jonason, Amy Jones, and Minna Lyons, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 55, no. 5, 2013, pp. 538-541.
- “Frictional Coefficient under Banana Skin,” Kiyoshi Mabuchi, Kensei Tanaka, Daichi Uchijima and Rina Sakai, Tribology Online 7, no. 3, 2012, pp. 147-151.
- “Seeing Jesus in Toast: Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Face Pareidolia,” Jiangang Liu, Jun Li, Lu Feng, Ling Li, Jie Tian, Kang Lee, Cortex, vol. 53, April 2014, Pages 60–77.
- “Changes in personality profile of young women with latent toxoplasmosis,” Jaroslav Flegr and Jan Havlicek, Folia Parasitologica, vol. 46, 1999, pp. 22-28.
- “Decreased level of psychobiological factor novelty seeking and lower intelligence in men latently infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii Dopamine, a missing link between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis?” Jaroslav Flegr, Marek Preiss, Jiřı́ Klose, Jan Havlı́ček, Martina Vitáková, and Petr Kodym, Biological Psychology, vol. 63, 2003, pp. 253–268.
- “Describing the Relationship between Cat Bites and Human Depression Using Data from an Electronic Health Record,” David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan, Lisa Seyfried, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 8, 2013, e70585.
- “Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth’s magnetic field,” Vlastimil Hart, Petra Nováková, Erich Pascal Malkemper, Sabine Begall, Vladimír Hanzal, Miloš Ježek, Tomáš Kušta, Veronika Němcová, Jana Adámková, Kateřina Benediktová, Jaroslav Červený and Hynek Burda, Frontiers in Zoology, 10:80, 27 December 27, 2013.
- “Aesthetic value of paintings affects pain thresholds,” Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, Consciousness and Cognition, vol. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 1152-1162.
- “Cambia il Sistema europeo dei conti nazionali e regionali – Sec2010“, ISTAT, 2014.
- “European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010),” Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013.
- “Nasal Packing With Strips of Cured Pork as Treatment for Uncontrollable Epistaxis in a Patient with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia,” Ian Humphreys, Sonal Saraiya, Walter Belenky and James Dworkin, Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, vol. 120, no. 11, November 2011, pp. 732-36.
- “Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer towards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya,” Eigil Reimers and Sindre Eftestøl, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, vol. 44, no. 4, 2012, pp. 483-9.
- “Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages,” Raquel Rubio, Anna Jofré, Belén Martín, Teresa Aymerich, Margarita Garriga, Food Microbiology, vol. 38, 2014, pp. 303-311