Boss revenge, self-colonoscopy studies win 2018 Ig Nobels
BOSTON — Anyone who’s ever been so furious with their boss that they feel like exacting revenge really needs to listen to Lindie Liang.
Liang and her colleagues found that abusing a virtual voodoo doll instead of your boss will make you feel better without getting you fired or thrown in jail, a study that earned them a 2018 Ig Nobel, the annual prize sponsored by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research for comical but practical scientific discovery.
Winners recognized Thursday included a Japanese doctor who devised a revolutionary new way to give yourself a colonoscopy; a British archaeology lecturer who figured out that eating human flesh isn’t very nutritious; an Australian team that found that people who buy high tech products really can’t be bothered with the instruction manual; and Spanish university researchers who measured the effects of shouting and cursing while driving.
The prizes at the 28th annual ceremony at Harvard University were being handed out by real Nobel laureates. The event featured a traditional paper airplane air raid and the premiere of “The Broken Heart Opera,” performed with the help of Harvard Medical School cardiologists.