Stolen from the BBC website. An Ig-Nobel is defined: “The Ig Nobels – the guiding principle of which is to reward research which makes people laugh and then think – celebrate the unsung highlights of academic research” says Mr Abrahams.

He continues: “There are 10,000 academic journals out there which publish original research and which are mostly ignored by everyone except those who wrote them”

This year’s winners include papers revealing in depth information on:

• Salmonella Excretion in Joy-Riding Pigs
• The Effects of Unilateral Forced Nostril Breathing on Cognition
• An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Over Various Surfaces.

And my personal favourite:

• The Effect of Country Music on Suicide

This is clearly research money well spent. A further quote caught my eye:

“Every prize winner has a story worth telling but they wouldn’t get that attention from anyone were it not for these,” he says. He draws on the example of John Trinkhaus, an octogenarian Ig Nobel winner who had rigorously written more than 80 detailed academic reports about things that annoyed him”

So essentially an Ig Nobel is a prize for scientific blogging. It appears my stuff meets all the criteria of uninteresting, unread nonsense so I should be a shoe in for an award.

Ace. The last award I won was a bronze swimming certificate. My mum is going to be proud.

I promise I am not making this up – from the venerable BBC no less.

Just fantastic 🙂