September 21, 2024 • 5 mins
This Sunday, it's time for our annual Ig Nobel Awards celebration - the annual prize ceremony that celebrates research that spurs interest in science.
The whole list of research can be found at Past Ig Winners (improbable.com) but among Dr Michelle Dickinson's favourites, the winners were:
A team that showed how the hair on your head swirls in a different direction depending on whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere.
Research looking at how defrosted, dead fish swim.
How placing a cat on the back of a cow and then popping bags every 10 seconds to stress out a cow might affect its milk production.
How some mammals (including humans) can breathe through their bum!
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Scientists can do some pretty incredible things, and then they
can do some very interesting things and some very quirky
things that you do wonder how they managed to get
funding for, but there is often a purpose behind them.
Joining us now is doctor Michel Dickinson.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Good Ronnie.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We're talking, of course about the Ignoble Awards.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Every year, and it's my favorite.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well it's just I meant honestly, we all need a
bit of a giggle on a Sunday morning, and there
is plenty to chuckle about here. What interests you in
the collection of winners this year?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, So the Ignoble Awards are awards that go to
recognize science that will spurt interest and make you think.
And so there are many, Ah, there are so many.
My two favorites have to be bum breathing and scaring cows.
Which will we will go to? There are so many
great Awardi winners. Did you have a favorite on the list?
(01:06):
I look, to be honest with you, the cow It
was pretty funny. I was slightly intrigued about turning the
page the one about using chromatology to separate drunken sober wombs.
That definitely provoked a few questions in my mind. What
I liked about that one is what they saw is
the sober worms left the drunk worms for dead, just
(01:31):
totally left them. Imagine they were dead and just carried
on as well.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Maybe that's why it appealed to me. And there was
one about the swimming patients of dead trout. I can't
find that way.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You like this one. So this it always stems, usually
from somebody's childhood and this research. I really liked watching
trout swimming in the stream. And if you've ever seen
sort of salmon migrating, like these fish have to go
a really long way to go breeding grounds. And he
was watching trout swimming through the stream where he lived,
and he noticed that they really swam elegantly in a
(02:02):
fast blowing stream when they were behind a rock. So
the rock sort of changes the current of the flow
of the water, and when they were swimming behind a rock,
they seemed to move much more effortlessly. And he was like,
that's interesting as a kid, anyway, as an adult he
was like, that's still interesting. So he made a pretend
stream in a fish tank and put a pretend rock
in there, and then placed some living trout in that
(02:24):
space behind the rock to try and figure out how
they move so effortlessly forward. And then he was like,
I wonder if it's the fish. I wonder if it's
the way the water runs behind a rock. So then
he took some dead fish. He froze them, defrusted them,
and placed them in the same tank behind the rock,
and studied how their bodies moved. And what he found is,
it's not the fish, it's the eddy currents in the water.
(02:47):
The reason why the fish like to swim behind these
rocks is because actually the eddy current in the water
propel the fish forward, and the fish's body naturally has
this sort of nice wave move. And so he likened
it to surfing and basically said that these fish are
surfing through the eddy currents using least amount of energy possible,
(03:08):
and both dead fish and living fish can swim forward
effortlessly looking like they're relaxed, because actually it's not the
muscles of the fish that are moving, it's the eddy
currents that are propelling them forward.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
These might sound like a slightly ridiculous topic, for a study,
but there is something ver interesting behind it. You do
need to explain the physiology prize for discovering that mini
mammals are capable of breathing through the anus.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So good, you just go, how did we get here?
So there are some fish that can breathe through their intestines,
that's how it all started, and they're called loaches. And
then there's a turtle called a Mary River turtle in
Australia who can breathe through its bump. And so they
basically these scientists during COVID realized that we didn't have
(03:55):
enough mechanical respirators for all of the patients, which are
these big instruments that help us to breathe when we're
in respiratory failure. And they said, we don't have enough
of this. How might we keep patients alive in a
different way if we cannot be putting them on these
mechanical respirators. And they knew about these bum breathing turtles
and these interestine breathing fish, and they said, I wonder
(04:15):
if humans can breed through their anus. So they started
with fish, with sorry, with mice, rats and pigs, and
they stuck an oxygenated tube up their bottoms and they
were able to prove that they can actually keep these
animals alive when they're in respiratory failure by pumping oxygen
through their bottoms and your body is absorbing it enough
(04:36):
that it keeps you alive. So that's how it started,
and they were like, well, if we can do that
in pigs, we must be able to do it in people.
So they're just starting their trials now in people. Yes,
it's exactly how you imagine it's going to be. But
what they found in the mammals is that they can
keep you alive through oxygen in your bum and if
(04:57):
there aren't enough mechanical respirators out there, you need something,
So that's where they first look.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
If it is well with the read later on to
if you're just looking for a fascinating read, if you
just google ig Noble Winners two thousand and four, you'll
come up with them and it will keep you highly
entertained for a while. Thank you so much, Michelle. We'll
catch you next week.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Scientists can do some pretty incredible things, and then they
can do some very interesting things and some very quirky
things that you do wonder how they managed to get
funding for, but there is often a purpose behind them.
Joining us now is doctor Michel Dickinson.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Good Ronnie.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We're talking, of course about the Ignoble Awards.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Every year, and it's my favorite.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well it's just I meant honestly, we all need a
bit of a giggle on a Sunday morning, and there
is plenty to chuckle about here. What interests you in
the collection of winners this year?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, So the Ignoble Awards are awards that go to
recognize science that will spurt interest and make you think.
And so there are many, Ah, there are so many.
My two favorites have to be bum breathing and scaring cows.
Which will we will go to? There are so many
great Awardi winners. Did you have a favorite on the list?
(01:06):
I look, to be honest with you, the cow It
was pretty funny. I was slightly intrigued about turning the
page the one about using chromatology to separate drunken sober wombs.
That definitely provoked a few questions in my mind. What
I liked about that one is what they saw is
the sober worms left the drunk worms for dead, just
(01:31):
totally left them. Imagine they were dead and just carried
on as well.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Maybe that's why it appealed to me. And there was
one about the swimming patients of dead trout. I can't
find that way.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You like this one. So this it always stems, usually
from somebody's childhood and this research. I really liked watching
trout swimming in the stream. And if you've ever seen
sort of salmon migrating, like these fish have to go
a really long way to go breeding grounds. And he
was watching trout swimming through the stream where he lived,
and he noticed that they really swam elegantly in a
(02:02):
fast blowing stream when they were behind a rock. So
the rock sort of changes the current of the flow
of the water, and when they were swimming behind a rock,
they seemed to move much more effortlessly. And he was like,
that's interesting as a kid, anyway, as an adult he
was like, that's still interesting. So he made a pretend
stream in a fish tank and put a pretend rock
in there, and then placed some living trout in that
(02:24):
space behind the rock to try and figure out how
they move so effortlessly forward. And then he was like,
I wonder if it's the fish. I wonder if it's
the way the water runs behind a rock. So then
he took some dead fish. He froze them, defrusted them,
and placed them in the same tank behind the rock,
and studied how their bodies moved. And what he found is,
it's not the fish, it's the eddy currents in the water.
(02:47):
The reason why the fish like to swim behind these
rocks is because actually the eddy current in the water
propel the fish forward, and the fish's body naturally has
this sort of nice wave move. And so he likened
it to surfing and basically said that these fish are
surfing through the eddy currents using least amount of energy possible,
(03:08):
and both dead fish and living fish can swim forward
effortlessly looking like they're relaxed, because actually it's not the
muscles of the fish that are moving, it's the eddy
currents that are propelling them forward.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
These might sound like a slightly ridiculous topic, for a study,
but there is something ver interesting behind it. You do
need to explain the physiology prize for discovering that mini
mammals are capable of breathing through the anus.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So good, you just go, how did we get here?
So there are some fish that can breathe through their intestines,
that's how it all started, and they're called loaches. And
then there's a turtle called a Mary River turtle in
Australia who can breathe through its bump. And so they
basically these scientists during COVID realized that we didn't have
(03:55):
enough mechanical respirators for all of the patients, which are
these big instruments that help us to breathe when we're
in respiratory failure. And they said, we don't have enough
of this. How might we keep patients alive in a
different way if we cannot be putting them on these
mechanical respirators. And they knew about these bum breathing turtles
and these interestine breathing fish, and they said, I wonder
(04:15):
if humans can breed through their anus. So they started
with fish, with sorry, with mice, rats and pigs, and
they stuck an oxygenated tube up their bottoms and they
were able to prove that they can actually keep these
animals alive when they're in respiratory failure by pumping oxygen
through their bottoms and your body is absorbing it enough
(04:36):
that it keeps you alive. So that's how it started,
and they were like, well, if we can do that
in pigs, we must be able to do it in people.
So they're just starting their trials now in people. Yes,
it's exactly how you imagine it's going to be. But
what they found in the mammals is that they can
keep you alive through oxygen in your bum and if
(04:57):
there aren't enough mechanical respirators out there, you need something,
So that's where they first look.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
If it is well with the read later on to
if you're just looking for a fascinating read, if you
just google ig Noble Winners two thousand and four, you'll
come up with them and it will keep you highly
entertained for a while. Thank you so much, Michelle. We'll
catch you next week.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
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