Summary of the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners for interesting and thought-provoking research, the 16th consecutive Japanese award

The 2022 award ceremony for the Ig Nobel Prize, which is awarded for 'laughter and thought-provoking research' sponsored by the American scientific journal ' Imrobable Research ' every year, will be held on September 16, 2022. It was held at 7:00. This year, the 32nd time, awards were presented in 10 categories, and a Japanese researcher was also awarded.

2022 Ceremony
https://improbable.com/ig/2022-ceremony/

The Ig Nobel Prize is held every year at Harvard's Saunders Hall, but from 2020 it will be held online due to the new coronavirus pandemic. The theme for 2022 was 'Knowledge'.

The winners will receive a PDF file that can print a paper trophy, a ``Notice of Ig Nobel Prize Award'' signed by the original Nobel Prize winner, and a 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollar bill. In the scene below, the trophy for the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize is scattered on the table.

◆Applied Cardiology Award
The Applied Cardiology Prize, ' For the discovery of evidence that heart rates synchronize during romantic encounters and mutual attraction,' Erishka Prokashikova, Elio Shaksi, Frederica Berens, and Daniel・Awarded to Mr. Lind and Mr. Marishka Kret.

Physiological synchrony is associated with attraction in a blind date setting | Nature Human Behavior
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01197-3

This study measured the physiological phenomena of men and women during dating, and the research team had male and female participants wear eye tracking glasses that measure physiological signals such as heart rate and electrodermal activity We met in the room.

As a result, in the case of pairs who felt attraction to each other, synchronization was seen in heart rate and electrodermal activity. The research team argued that the attraction to the other person changes depending on whether the heart rate and electrodermal activity, which cannot be consciously adjusted, match.

Research results that ``heart rate and sweating synchronize'' when you feel attractive to the opposite sex - GIGAZINE

◆ Literature Award
The Literary Prize was awarded to Eric Martinez, Francis Morica, and Edward Gibson for their ' analysis of what makes legal documents unnecessarily difficult to understand .'

Poor writing, not specialized concepts, drives processing difficulty in legal language - ScienceDirect
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105070

The study showed that even experienced readers, who were good at reading texts, had significantly lower comprehension of legal texts. This is not only because the reader lacks specialized legal knowledge, but also because legal documents use long and complicated sentences. Three researchers said, ``Long sentence dependency, that is, poor writing style is recognized in the text of legal documents, which causes working memory limitations,'' and editing legal documents in an easy-to-understand manner is beneficial to society as a whole. suggested there is.

◆ Biology Award
The Ig Nobel Prize in Biology was awarded to Solimarie García-Hernández and Glauco Machado for their study ' whether or how constipation affects mating in scorpions' .

Short‐and long‐term effects of an extreme case of autotomy: does “tail” loss and subsequent constipation decrease the locomotor performance of male and female scorpions? - GARCÍA‐HERNÁNDEZ - Integrative Zoology - Wiley Online Library
https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12604

When a scorpion is attacked by a predator, it cuts off its tail and escapes. However, the scorpion's digestive organs are contained in the tail, and if the tail is cut off, the scorpion will never be able to excrete again. In other words, a scorpion that has lost its tail will be constipated until it dies.

Garcia-Hernandez and Machado studied the effects of tailless scorpions. As a result of the experiment, although all individuals had severe constipation, there was no change in the maximum running speed of the scorpion in the short term. However, over the long term, it was found that the maximum running speed of males gradually decreased and their exercise capacity decreased. This makes tailless males less likely to find a mate. However, since scorpions take courtship behavior using the whole body, fertility itself is not affected. In addition, it seems that it takes several months for the scorpion to die from constipation.

◆Medical Award
The medical award was given by a Polish research team ' for the proof that the use of ice cream during chemotherapy reduces side effects' . The winners are Marcin Jasinski, Matina Masieska, Ana Broziak, Michael Gurka, Camila Skiroska, Jesra Jesretak, Aniessa Tomasiwebka, Gregoz Basak and Emilian Sunazki.

Ice-cream used as cryotherapy during high-dose melphalan conditioning reduces oral mucositis after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation | Scientific Reports
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02002-x

Patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation receive prior drug chemotherapy. Oral mucositis has been reported as a side effect of this chemotherapy, and licking ice was said to be effective as a countermeasure.

Therefore, with the cooperation of the hospital's cafe, the research team fed patients undergoing chemotherapy before autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with ice cream. They found that patients who ate ice cream had a lower incidence of oral mucositis. The research team argued that ice cream therapy is viable as a cost-effective and easy-to-implement method.

At the award ceremony, the research team thanked the patient and the hospital cafe for their cooperation while eating ice cream.

◆Engineering Award
The Engineering Prize was awarded to Professor Gen Matsuzaki, Professor Kazuo Ouchi, Professor Masaru Uehara, and Professor Goro Imura of Chiba Institute of Technology. This is the 16th consecutive time since 2007 that a Japanese person has won the Ig Nobel Prize. The prize will be awarded in 2022, but the paper itself will be published in 1998.

Regarding finger usage in turning a cylindrical knob
(PDF file) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jssdj/45/5/45_KJ00001647367/_pdf

When turning a doorknob or knob, change the way you hold it depending on its size. For example, hold a small knob like a door key with two fingers, and a large cylinder like a doorknob with five fingers.

Professor Matsuzaki and his colleagues prepared wooden cylinders varying in size from 7 mm to 130 mm, and rotated them with their right hands for 32 people. As a result, it was found that the number and position of fingers changed depending on the diameter of the cylinder.

According to Professor Matsuzaki, the number of fingers holding a knob changes from 2 to 3 when the diameter of the knob is 10 to 11 mm, from 3 to 4 when the diameter is 23 to 26 mm, and from 4 to 5 when the diameter is 45 to 50 mm. About. Also, when the position of the thumb when holding is aligned, it seems that the positions of the other four fingers draw a quadratic curve.

◆ Art History Award
The winners of the Art History Prize, the 32nd and first category, are Mr. Peter de Smut and Mr. Nicholas Hermas, who won the prize for their interdisciplinary approach to the enema ritual depicted on ancient Mayan pottery. About .

A multidisciplinary approach to ritual enema scenes on ancient Maya pottery - ScienceDirect
https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(86)90091-7

Various pictures are drawn on ancient Mayan pottery, but this research shows that ancient Maya was doing alcohol enema in ritual. This may have been to induce the inebriated state required for the ritual, as direct ingestion of alcohol through the rectum causes intoxication much faster than ingestion through the mouth. De Smut and Hermas also point out that plants such as tobacco and water lilies may have been used in enemas.

During the award ceremony interview, Mr. Hermas showed off a diverse collection of enema devices that he has amassed from around the world.

◆ Physics Award
To Frank Fish, Ziming Yuan, Mingle Cheng, Leibing Jia, Zhangyang Ji, Attila Incetic, in 'On Trying to Understand How Ducklings Swim in Formation ' A physics award was given.

Energy conservation by formation swimming: metabolic evidence from ducklings (Chapter 13) - The Mechanics and Physiology of Animal Swimming
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983641.014

Ducklings swim behind their parents in a line. At first glance, you may think that it is a biology prize, but in this research, it is pointed out that the ducklings are able to swim with less energy by riding on the waves generated by the swimming of the parent ducks. It has been.

This research goes beyond just duck ecology, suggesting the possibility that a large ship towing a small ship can carry cargo with less fuel than, for example, moving one huge cargo ship.

Among the physics award winners, Mr. Frank Fish is the presenter of another paper, but because he had already pointed out almost the same content several decades ago, at the same time as Mr. Yuan et al. Awarded.

◆Peace Prize
The Peace Prize goes to Mr. Junhei Fu, Mr. Shabotch Samad, Mr. Pat Berkley, Mr. Bianca Bersma, Mr. Terrence Dres Cruz, Mr. Sergio La Yacano, Ms. Annika Nipper, Ms. Kim Peters, Boytek・Awarded to Mr. Spioka, Mr. Leo Tiokin and Mr. Paul Van Langa. He was awarded ' for the development of an algorithm to determine when gossipers should tell the truth and when to lie '.

Honesty and dishonesty in gossip strategies: a fitness interdependence analysis | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0300

Information about absent others, i.e., gossip originators, may circulate incorrect information for the purpose of 'personal gain.' As such, the information conveyed by gossip can be biased. Based on the physical interdependence of gossip speakers and listeners, the research team mathematically modeled ``when people tell true information or false information''. By applying this model, it was suggested that people who like to gossip can distinguish between truth and lies at the optimal timing, even in noisy environments.

Presenter and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Francis Arnold said, 'It is a real honor to present this award to you because it highlights the vital role of gossip in maintaining the world and peace. After all, gossip is the foundation for fostering and sustaining cooperation, and this study teaches us how to give and receive it, and the rules by which to live it, even if it is true. Regardless, I will honor this with the Ig Nobel Peace Prize.'

◆Economics Award
Alessandra Pulquino, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, Andrea Lapisalda, 'On the mathematical explanation why the luckiest, but not the most talented, often succeed, ' 2022 Annual Ig Nobel Prize in Economics.

TALENT VERSUS LUCK: THE ROLE OF RANDOMNESS IN SUCCESS AND FAILURE | Advances in Complex Systems
https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219525918500145

In fact, Mr. Alessandra Purchino and Mr. Andrea Lapisalda decided in 2010 for 'mathematically proving that organizations are more efficient when people are randomly selected for promotion.' This is the second time he has received the Ig Nobel Prize in Business Administration.

The research team started research with the question, 'Is it talent or luck that is necessary for success?' After simulating the careers of over 1000 people, it was shown that ``very lucky people with moderate talent'' are always more successful than ``unlucky people with very talented''. . In addition, the research team showed that efficient redistribution strategies to support the success of the most talented people and generate new ideas are also effective.

◆Safety Engineering Award
The safety engineering award went to Swedish business developer Magnus Gens, who won the prize for ' developing a dummy elk for crash tests .'

Moose crash test dummy : master's thesis
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A673368&dswid=-8407

In Sweden, where moose live, there are reports of collisions between cars and moose every year. Therefore, in order to verify if it is about to collide with a moose crossing the road, Mr. Gens developed a model of a moose and conducted an experiment. Mr. Gens explains that when you are about to hit an elk, ``Turn the steering wheel and guide the car to the lighter side of the elk, that is, to the rear.''

In the video of the award ceremony, a moose often passed by while Mr. Gens was talking.

The state of the award ceremony can be seen from the following.

The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony-YouTube


The Japanese version has been published on Nico Nico Live Broadcasting and can be viewed on Time Shift.

Ig Nobel Prize 2022 Award Ceremony Japanese Version Official Live Streaming-2022/9/16 (Friday) 7:00 Start-Nico Nico Live Broadcasting
https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv338197879