Dec 17, 2005

Ig-Nobel Prize 2005

Ig-Nobel prizes are given every year to those who conduct such experiments which make people laugh first and then think.. :-)
I had a good laugh at this year's prize-winners:
Let me being this with my subject, chemistry..

Chem: The researchers at Minnesota were interested to find an answer to the 'very important, long-standing scientific question'..

(Pic created using data from Wiley)

That would have been an unforgettable swim session.. ;-)

Physics: A slightly-long experiment to show that even hard solids do behave as fluids over a long period of time. The researchers put a block of tar in a funnel and waited the tar to fall a drop and fall.. And, it did.. albeit slowly - 1 drop for almost 9 years !! :-) The irony is that noone has seen the drop actually falling.. it has been seen as a drop at the bottom of the funnel once a while.. When did the experiment begin? Only as recently as 1927 !!

(Pic adopted from Univ. Queensland, Australia)

Literature: This one is well-known to, I am sure, all of us.. We got those mails from the President of Nigeria and other African nations, saying that there is a huge money waiting for us to have and we need to pay a small amount to get it.. Yes, the guys who created the mail have got the prize... I thought they deserved punishment for this unique cyber-crime..

Economics: We should be proud of this.. yeah, an Indian has won this !! Ms. Gauri Nanda, from MIT, created an Alarm clock which would alarm, run away and hide repeatedly so you have no choice but getting up.. What does this have to do with Economics? Well, those who get up early can, in principle, can go to work early and add more workhours to a day... makes sense?

Last, in nutrition: A Japanese scientist has been keeping up his food-diary for analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of only 34 years (and still counting).. Sheesh...

There are more too, which include some funny bio experiments such as "Pressures produced when Penguins pooh", "Artificial replaement testicles for dogs (available in 3 sizes) [LOL]", "A survey of Frog odorous secretions", etc.

Compared to all these, the research I am doing is far better.. :-)

Have a good weekend, folks!!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

downloaded pudhupettai from online raju, tamiltorrents.net.

Anonymous said...

I heard about that alarm clock created by an indian. but i didn't know that it was available in stores, i thought that it was just a prototype. There is a new alarm clock that supposedly flies, and creates buzzing sound, you need to get up catch it, and put it back in the stand, this way u dont go back to sleep after turning off the alarm.

paurna said...

very bad raju.dont promote piracy.

Download from tamilnapster instead lol

anyways on a more serious not hey can u write more about ur research.what u are working on.people may like to read about that

paurna said...

as for the post about god.i haven't made it yet.i wanted to but instead wrote about developments in my college.will inform u when i do make that post about god

tt_giant said...

alarm clock that flies?. I still dont get it..

Anonymous said...

tt_giant, check out this link http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/move-over-mit-the-blowfly-alarm-clock-is-here-141731.php they have pictures, its called blowfly.

Me said...

lol...every grad student would feel happy if he is funded in a proj like that tar one....no worries abt project finishing and losing funding in near future....:p

Nallavan said...

hahahahaha

Raju said...

Nitin, tamiltorrents? mm.. let me try. Thanks...

Interesting info on the flying alarm clock.. and thanks for the link too.. It was cool.. I was just wondering about what would be next.. may be something which senses whether a person is lying down or not by the pressure under the mattress, for some duration of time after the set-time (similar to the way a car senses the passenger's presence for warning on buckling up.
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Paurna, mm... OK.. I will try to check ur blog whenever I get time..

And, u know what.. for a few weeks, I have been thinking of writing about my work.. Will certainly do it in the near future.. :-)
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Deepak, amazing, isnt it? Imagine it flies and start hitting the roof, fan, light and other things in the room.. would be a mess, ille?
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Me, LOL.. only that the student has to wait his lifetime to graduate.. :-)
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Sarathy, :-)

San said...

interesting stuff :)

NaiKutti said...

neenga enna research panringa raju?

Raju said...

Sangeeta, :-)
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Karthik, I will tell you very soon, konjam porungo.. :)

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