Science
Ig Nobel Prize ceremony relocates to Switzerland for first time in 35 years
Organizers cited U.S. visa uncertainties and travel safety concerns as the awards honored research ranging from anti-splash urinals to evolutionary kissing.
The short version
- The 35th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony was held outside the United States for the first time, taking place in Zurich, Switzerland.
- Organizers chose to relocate the event abroad after international winners previously expressed reluctance to travel to the U.S. due to visa and border protocols.
- Honored studies included a redesigned splash-free urinal, an evolutionary definition tracing kissing back 21.5 million years, and research on social class behavior.
- Organizers view the move to Europe as a permanent or ongoing shift to expand the event's international audience amid broader challenges in U.S. scientific travel.
Key facts
- The Ig Nobel ceremony was hosted in Zurich, Switzerland, marking its first international venue in the event's 35-year history.[NPR]
- Founder Marc Abrahams stated that four of ten winners skipped the prior year's event over safety concerns related to unpredictable U.S. immigration and visa processes.[NPR]
- The physics prize was awarded to a research team that prototyped an anti-splash urinal maintaining impact angles below 30 degrees.[NPR]
- The biomechanics prize recognized a team led by Matilda Brindle for defining kissing and identifying it as an ancestral trait dating back approximately 21.5 million years across great apes and archaic humans.[NPR]
- Additional prizes honored research into higher social classes taking candy from children (economics) and the aerodynamics of nose blowing (medicine).[NPR]
What remains uncertain
- Whether the Ig Nobel ceremony will permanently remain in Europe or return to the United States in future years was not specified.[NPR]