The 2004 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 14th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony yesterday. The winners are:<\/p>\n
MEDICINE PHYSICS PUBLIC HEALTH CHEMISTRY ENGINEERING LITERATURE PSYCHOLOGY ECONOMICS PEACE BIOLOGY The 2004 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 14th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony yesterday. The winners are: MEDICINE Steven Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA and James Gundlach of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA, for their published report "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide." PUBLISHED IN: Social Forces, vol….<\/p>\n
\n Steven Stack<\/a> of Wayne
\n State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA and James
\n Gundlach<\/a> of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA, for their published
\n report "The
\n Effect of Country Music on Suicide<\/a>."
\n PUBLISHED IN: Social Forces<\/a>, vol.
\n 71, no. 1, September 1992, pp. 211-8.<\/p>\n
\n Ramesh Balasubramaniam<\/a>
\n of the University of Ottawa, and Michael
\n Turvey<\/a> of the University of Connecticut and Yale University, for exploring
\n and explaining the dynamics of hula-hooping.
\n REFERENCE: "Coordination
\n Modes in the Multisegmental Dynamics of Hula Hooping<\/a>," Ramesh Balasubramaniam
\n and Michael T. Turvey, Biological
\n Cybernetics<\/a>, vol. 90, no. 3, March 2004, pp. 176-90.<\/p>\n
\n Jillian Clarke of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and
\n then Howard University, for investigating
\n the scientific validity of the Five-Second Rule<\/a> about whether it's safe
\n to eat food that's been dropped on the floor.<\/p>\n
\n The Coca-Cola Company of
\n Great Britain<\/a>, for using advanced technology to convert liquid from
\n the River
\n Thames<\/a> into Dasani,
\n a transparent form of water, which for precautionary reasons has been made
\n unavailable to consumers<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n Donald J. Smith and his father, the late Frank J. Smith, of Orlando Florida,
\n USA, for patenting the combover (U.S. Patent #4,022,227).<\/p>\n
\n The American Nudist Research Library<\/a>
\n of Kissimmee, Florida, USA, for preserving nudist history so that everyone
\n can see it.<\/p>\n
\n Daniel Simons<\/a>
\n of the University
\n of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<\/a> and Christopher
\n Chabris<\/a> of Harvard University, for demonstrating that when people pay
\n close attention to something, it's all too easy to overlook anything else
\n — even a man in a gorilla suit.
\n REFERENCE: "Gorillas
\n in Our Midst<\/a>," Daniel J. Simons and Christopher F. Chabris, vol.
\n 28, Perception<\/a>, 1999, pages
\n 1059-74.
\n DEMO: <http:\/\/viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu\/media\/ig.html<\/a>><\/p>\n
\n The Vatican<\/a>, for outsourcing
\n prayers to India<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n Daisuke Inoue<\/a> of Hyogo,
\n Japan, for inventing karaoke, thereby providing an entirely new way for
\n people to learn to tolerate each other<\/p>\n
\n Ben Wilson<\/a> of the University
\n of British Columbia, Lawrence
\n Dill<\/a> of Simon Fraser University [Canada], Robert
\n Batty<\/a> of the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Magnus
\n Whalberg<\/a> of the University of Aarhus [Denmark], and Hakan Westerberg
\n of Sweden's National Board of
\n Fisheries<\/a>, for showing that herrings
\n apparently communicate by farting<\/a>.
\n REFERENCE: "Sounds
\n Produced by Herring (Clupea harengus) Bubble Release<\/a>," Magnus Wahlberg
\n and Håkan Westerberg, Aquatic
\n Living Resources<\/a>, vol. 16, 2003, pp. 271-5.
\n REFERENCE: "Pacific
\n and Atlantic Herring Produce Burst Pulse Sounds<\/a>," Ben Wilson, Robert
\n S. Batty and Lawrence M. Dill, Biology
\n Letters<\/a>, vol. 271, 2003, pp. S95-S97.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"