Everyone is familiar the Nobel Prizes, which are awarded physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. These are given to those who have contributed "the greatest benefit to humankind". However, fewer people are aware the Ig Nobel Prize. This is bestowed to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think". One this year's Ig Nobel awards has been given to scientists who experimented the effects rhinoceroses hanging them upside down. The rhino study won the award transportation research. Researchers Cornell University were trying to ascertain the healthiest way to relocate the animals helicopter.
The Ig Nobel prizes are organized the science humor magazine Annals Improbable Research. Wikipedia says: "The Ig Nobel Prize is a satirical prize awarded annually 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research." It added: "The name the award is a pun the Nobel Prize, which it parodies, and the word ignoble (not noble)." Other recipients of this year's award studied the bacteria chewing gum stuck pavements, conducted tests on forms of cat communication, and carried out research on whether humans evolved to grow beards to protect themselves punches the face. All award winners receive a now-defunct Zimbabwean $10 trillion note.
