October 10, 2008

Armadillos, Fleas, and Slime Mold: the 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes

Amid great foolishness and fanfare, scholars from around the globe collected awards last week at the 18th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony at Harvard University.

The event was produced by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research and included a mini-opera, "Redundancy, Again," among the tributes to the evening's theme of "Redundancy."

The awards, which honor achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think," were handed out in 10