IG Noble Prize Awards 2021: Interesting studies rewarded, ranging from orgasms to beards

The Ig Nobel Prizes hands over awards for funny science experiments resulting in rewarding researches. The latest series of the Ig Nobel Awards is as absurd as usual, with honours given out for studies into cat meows, bacteria on pavement gum, and the origins of human beards.

The aim behind the award is to both mock and celebrate the odd aspects of science. The Ig Nobel Prizes for 2021 were given out Friday, and like the previous year, the ceremony had to be performed online due to COVID pandemic. The 31st year of the contest was sponsored by the Annals of Improbable Research journal.

Orgasm during sex can help you decongest your nose

A team led by Olcay Cem Bulut from University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany is one of the ten winners. What they discovered can be termed unimaginable. Their findings revealed that nasal respiration improved dramatically after sexual intercourse with a climax, similar to taking decongestant medicines. Their discovery also revealed that the sinus-clearing effect lasted for more than an hour. It seems like a worthwhile study - clogged nasal passages are a total hassle.

Moving on to the next award, a team from the Max Planck Institute won an Ig Nobel for chemistry for testing the air inside movie theatres to see if odours produced by the audience can reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, antisocial behaviour, drug use, and bad language in the movie that the audience was watching.  

Corruption in the country is linked to citizens' obesity

In another interesting study, Pavlo Blavatskyy of the University of Montpellier in France found that obesity among post-Soviet politicians is related to rampant corruption in their nations. This won him the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics.

Airlifting the rhinos in an inverted position is the best solution

Another award on the list was for Cornell University's Robin Radcliffe and his colleagues. They were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Transportation, for analysing multiple techniques for relocating endangered black rhinos. Poachers have been harming these rhinos, and they must be transferred to avoid unnecessary interbreeding.

The use of a helicopter to lift sedated rhinos upside down by their feet is an ideal technique to transfer them. Radcliffe and his colleagues were concerned that inverting rhinos would cause breathing and cardiovascular issues. As a result of this, they tested 12 rhinos, both upright and upside down, to see if this was true. It turns out that it didn't make a difference and that it's perfectly acceptable to do so.

Did you know that the human beard can serve purposes other than good looks?

According to a report co-authored by Ethan Beseris of the University of Utah, human males evolved beards to defend themselves from punches to the face. The team was given the Ig Nobel Peace Prize for its brilliant hypothesis. This study did not include punching individuals. Instead, weights were dropped into a bone-like fibre epoxy composite wrapped in sheepskin (beard like material).

The findings of this study showed that hair is capable of lowering the force of contact from a blunt strike and absorbing energy, resulting in a lower failure rate. If the same is true for human facial hair, a long beard may assist in protecting weak areas of the facial bone, such as the jaw. Full beards are also thought to minimise facial skin and muscle damage.

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