The 34th Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded yesterday, recognizing “amusing research with significant outcomes,” according to The Guardian. The scientific team that discovered some mammals can absorb oxygen through their anus won the prize in physiology.
Japanese scientists conducted tests on mice, rats, and pigs to arrive at this finding, which supports a clinical trial to explore whether the process could be used to treat respiratory failure.
The “fun Nobel Prizes,” established in 1991, are awarded by Nobel laureates at MIT. The winners receive a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar banknote valued at $0.40.
The team was recognized in one of the 10 studies honored at this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes, which celebrate research that “first makes people laugh, and then makes them think.” These awards should not be confused with the Nobel Prizes awarded in October. The name “Ig Nobel” is a play on “Nobel” and “ignoble,” referring to something disgraceful or base.
Other awards included the Physics Prize for a study on the swimming abilities of a dead trout, the Anatomy Prize for research on whether hair growth direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) is influenced by the hemisphere in which a person was born, and the Chemistry Prize for a study that distinguished between sober and drunk worms using chromatography.
