At the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in Zurich in early September, awards were given for research that first makes people laugh and then gives them food for thought. The study “Evidence: Underwear” by the University of Zurich (UZH) received the prize in the soil science category.
Researchers proved that they certainly have a sense of humor, and occasionally even a penchant for absurdity, at yesterday’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at the Zurich Kongresshaus. At this satirical counterpart to the official Nobel Prizes in October, they were in top form: Scientists appeared dressed as cockroaches, the “Federal Council for Defense, Attack, and Neutrality” made an appearance, life-size bananas put a stop to overly long speeches, and the prize money amounted to 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars – equivalent to 5 rappen. The name says it all: “Ig” turns “Nobel” into “ignoble” – meaning unworthy or shameful.
As humorous and self-deprecating as the event may be, the award-winning studies are conducted with integrity and are taken very seriously. The “unworthy” Nobel Prize is awarded exclusively to research that sounds so bizarre that makes you laugh at first, but then makes you think.
The prizes – a human-shaped plastic foot adorned with numerous mushrooms – were presented by “real” Nobel laureates in attendance: Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee from UZH’s Department of Development Economics, Swiss astrophysicist Michel Mayor, and British biochemist Sir Tim Hunt were all eager to present the awards to their colleagues.
At 7:20 p.m., UZH agricultural ecology professor Marcel van der Heijden, Franz Bender, team leader for agroecological assessments at Agroscope, science journalist Atlant Bieri, and Pia Viviani, owner of a citizen science agency, took the main stage. They received the Ig Nobel Prize for their citizen science study “Evidence: Underwear” on soil quality. In 2021, they convinced 1,000 Swiss citizens to bury over 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear in front yards, fields, and meadows. After two months, the underwear was dug up, photographed, and sent to the lab for analysis along with a soil sample.
The entire team proved they have a sense of humor at the award ceremony: Behind the honorees stood a wall displaying underwear in various stages of decomposition, and Franz Bender even performed a song he had composed specifically about briefs.
In fact, there was plenty of laughter and cheering throughout this successful evening in Zurich, with science showing its lighthearted side. And to reveal one final detail: Inside one of the three yellow banana costumes was none other than Michael Schaepman, rector of UZH. He, too, had his fun.
