IG Nobel Prizes Awarded for Theories on Jesus Toast and Banana Peels

The Annals of Improbable Research Magazine announced the IG Nobel Prize winners at Harvard University on Thursday and seen on a live webcast. According to the magazine, the prizes are awarded for people who have done something to make people laugh, then think. The theme this year was food. Among the many categories, these made us laugh then think:

For physics, four people from Japan won from measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin and between a banana and the floor when a person steps on it.

For neuroscience, the winners in China tried to understand what happens in the brain of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.

For medicine, the prize was given out to several smarties from the U.S. and India who were able to treat uncontrollable nosebleeds using cured pork as nasal packing strips.

And then there was the category for arctic science. The winners are from Norway and Germany. They won for testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears.

Luckily for the audience, there was an 8-year-old girl on hand to stop winners from going more than 60 seconds during their acceptance speech.

Not only do the winners get bragging rights among their scientist and smarty-pants friends, but they also took home this fancy trophy.