Bringing real peace is an Ig Nobel goal

The way some Nobel laureates are underperforming after being given their award could kindle interest in their alterego prize series, the Ig Nobels. After all, the latter are supposed to first make people laugh — and then think; that is more than what some Nobel awardees are doing. Take the case of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize, whose “real” counterpart has been under particular scrutiny of late. The efforts of this year’s winners could actually make the world a more peaceful place for countless beleaguered people.

After all, Milo Puhan and his team have shown that regularly playing the didgeridoo (the ancient indigenous Australian wind instrument) can deal with obstructive sleep apnoea and its peace-threatening consequence, snoring. No less important is the discovery by James Heathcote (which has won him the Ig Nobel for Anatomy) that not only do old men have big ears — and women too, to a lesser extent — they also grow 2mm every decade after people turn 30. Whoever figures out why ears expand when the rest of the body contracts with age will surely be in the running for a future Nobel if not an Ig Nobel.

Feline fluidity (given their ability to fit any container), cheesephobia and the link between gambling and handling crocodiles are all thought-provoking 2017 Ig Nobel subjects. The list of 2017 Nobel laureates better be good.