NYT -- Dubious Science Achievements Hailed.
October 3, 2002
Dubious Science Achievements Hailed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:13 p.m. ET
BOSTON (AP) -- The definitive study on bellybutton lint, a
dog-to-person translation device and an inquiry into what
arouses ostriches were recognized Thursday with Ig Nobel
prizes for dubious contributions to science and
cocktail-party conversations everywhere.
The Ig Nobel Prizes, awarded annually at Harvard University
as a spoof of the Nobel ceremony, recognize achievements
that ``cannot or should not be reproduced.''
``It's a great honor. It introduces people to the idea that
science is fun,'' said Karl Kruszelnicki, a University of
Sydney researcher who wrote the paper on bellybutton lint.
Kruszelnicki, at his own expense, studied bellybutton lint
samples sent to him by 5,000 people. He concluded the lint
is a combination of clothing fibers and skin cells that are
led to the navel, via body hair, ``as all roads lead to
Rome.''
``Your typical generator of bellybutton lint or fluff is a
slightly overweight, middle-aged male with a hairy
abdomen,'' Kruszelnicki said.
A potentially more practical achievement is a Japanese
device that measures the tone of a dog's bark and relays
his mood. The device is on the market in Japan, and an
English version, called Bow-Lingual, should be ready in
about a year.
British scientists were honored for research that found
that ostriches become more amorous with each other when a
human is around. In fact, ostriches eventually start
putting the moves on humans.
In economics, the executives and auditors at Enron,
WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and a host of other companies
were commended by the Ig Nobel committee ``for adapting the
mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the
business world.''
Actual Nobel Laureates bestow the awards at a raucous
ceremony, during which the winners are hailed with cheers
and a flurry of paper airplanes.
Winners are selected from thousands of nominations by a
secret committee.
If a recipient feels insulted by the award, it's withdrawn,
said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Cambridge-based Annals of
Improbable Research, which bestows the award. He said most
people are pleased with the prize.
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On the Net:
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