THE Ig Nobel awards are a wonderful send-up of science’s most prestigious prizes. Winners pay their own way to the event, held annually at Harvard University, then have to endure riotous laughter as their work is “recognised” in public. This year’s Ig Nobels celebrate such dubious achievements as artificial testicles for dogs and an experiment to reveal whether people can swim faster in water or syrup (see Feedback).
The ceremony comes as a welcome diversion from a different event unfolding in a Pennsylvania courtroom. While the Ig Nobels are incredibly silly, they are founded on the serious idea that…
