Unconventional Achievements Honored with Shnobel Prizes
Date: 2023-09-16 Author: Dima Zakharov Categories: WORLD
Chemistry/Geology
The Shnobel Prize in chemistry and geology was awarded to Polish researcher Jan Zalasevich for his attempt to explain why many scientists enjoy licking rocks. According to Jan, they do it to improve their vision, not for taste, because mineral particles are more visible on wet surfaces than dry ones.
Medicine
In the field of medicine, researchers from the United States, Canada, Macedonia, Iran, and Vietnam were recognized for using human bodies to investigate whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of the two nostrils.
Literature
A team of researchers from France, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Finland received the prize for their study of the sensations experienced by individuals when repeating the same word many, many, many, many, and many more times.
Mechanical Engineering
The Shnobel Prize in mechanical engineering was awarded to scientists from India, China, Malaysia, and the United States for reviving dead spiders and using them as mechanical gripping tools. According to the scientists, a dead spider's legs naturally sit in a "closed" state like a clenched fist, but they can be extended and the grip can be opened by pressing.
Communication
A group of scientists from Spain conducted research on the mental activity of people who can fluently speak words backward. They recruited two men with this skill and 18 ordinary individuals for their experiments. Brain visualization of the two men showed an increase in gray matter volume and improved functional connectivity (white matter) in key language-related brain regions.
Healthcare
Representative Pak Sun Min from South Korea received an award in healthcare for inventing the Stanford Toilet. This device is designed to monitor health conditions by analyzing bodily waste using advanced technologies, including computer vision and an anal print sensor.
Food Science
In the field of food science, the jury highlighted an experiment by Japanese researchers Homei Miyashita and Hiromi Kamura. They explored how the taste of food changes when using electrified eating utensils and straws for drinking. Nakamura stated that her recent research revealed that saltiness in food can be increased through electrical stimulation of the tongue.
Education
A group of scientists led by Katie Tama demonstrated that a nodding head, gazing out of the window, and doodling in a notebook are signs of boredom.
Psychology
Stanley Milgram, Leonard Bickman, and Lawrence Berkovitz were awarded for conducting "street experiments" to observe how many pedestrians stop and look up when they see strangers looking upwards. The result was quite surprising, with 65% of people stopping to gaze.
Physics
Biéito Fernandes Castro assembled a team, secured funding, and measured how the sexual activity of anchovies affects the mixing of ocean water. More precisely, the research focused on the biophysical turbulence that arises during the mating of this fish species.
These unusual Shnobel Prize winners remind us that scientific exploration often takes unexpected and humorous turns, ultimately contributing to our understanding of the world in unconventional ways.
