Schnobel Prize: the most ridiculous discovery
This frivolous award is awarded for quite real, and sometimes useful scientific works, and among its owners there are even Nobel laureates. But the history of the Schnobel Prize began in 1991 with the wording "For achievements that cannot be reproduced or no sense to do this". We talk about the funniest, dubious and meaningless inventions, won by IG Nobel Prize (consonant with English Ignoble – "non-profit").
eight. Biology, 2016: Man in goat skins
To relax from human existence, London designer Thomas Tuits three days passing on the Alpine meadows in a goat costume. He even turned off the ability to speak, including a powerful electromagnet next to the skull. For the completeness of the dive, the experimenter attached special prostheses, imitating hooves, and tied a bag with goat gastric bacteria to the body – he spoiled her chewed grass. It was still not possible to eat – the grass had to cook in a pressure cooker. But it turned out that some plants are deer than others.
Changed in a fox, he ate from the garbage tank and slept in the gardens
Lawyer, veterinarian and philosopher Charles Foster went even further, reincarnated in different animals. Changed in a fox, he ate from the garbage tank and slept in the gardens. Several weeks, Charles lived together with the badgers, spent the night in Nore on the hillside and was fed with rainworms. Imitating otter, he sailed in the lake and tried to catch his teeth. And all this in order to better understand the life of animals. The scientist described his extraordinary experience in the book "Being Animals" and divided the Schnobel Prize with Thomas Tuits.
7. Chemistry, 1998: What is silent water
The ceremony of presenting the Schnobel Prize ends with the traditional facilities: "If you did not win the prize, and in particular, if you won, we hope, next year you will be lucky!"French immunologist Jacques Benvienist was lucky twice. The first Antinobaevskaya Prize, he was awarded in 1991 for the opening of the "Memory of Water". In the prestigious magazine Nature published his article that water is capable of memorizing and reproducing the properties of the substances that dissolve in it, even if the concentration of the substance in the solution is extremely small.
And although the Benbenist experiment soon repeated and denied, the scientist did not refuse his beliefs: he left academic science, created his own company and deepened in research.
The researcher recorded the memories of water from one test tube, digitized them and sent them on the phone the water in another capacity so that she learned that was dissolved in the first test tube
For the transfer of information stored in the water by phone to the researcher and handed the second schnobel. The benvenist theory was so in demand at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, which rewards got not only a scientist, but also to popularizers of his ideas. Film "Russia" TV channel "Water" on the incredible properties of structured water received in 2006 three awards of Teffi. But modern science denies the existence of water memory: its structure changes too quickly so that the fluid has time to "remember" and even more so "convey".
6. Physics, 1999: Tea with cookies
Tea drinking is not only ancient art, but also an accurate science, solved British scientists and offered to improve this inefficious procedure. Englishman Len Fisher, who lives in Australia, came to the conclusion that groaning cookies in tea is necessary strictly according to the formula: the depth of the penetration of the liquid is directly proportional to the surface tension, the diameter of the biscuit, the dive time and inversely proportional to the beverage fluidity.
Chocolate covered cookies, you need to make a chocolate side up, usual – at an angle.
In the process of research, it turned out that the gingerbread cookies watered in three seconds, and solid varieties – after eight. Chocolate covered cookies, you need to make a chocolate side up, usual – at an angle. And Professor of Mathematics Jean-Marc Venden-Brouke from the University of East England calculated what should be the aids of the kettle, so that neither the droplets were shed past the cup.
5. Education, 1999: Darwin at school is not a place
Even on the threshold of the XXI century, Darwin was found in the teachings, and these were not individual personalities, but entire structures – advice on the formation of the states of Colorado and Kansas in the US. Officials recommended not to teach the theory of evolution in schools, because "it’s just the theory". They were argued by rather vague: children should not believe the ideas of Darwin more than the theory of World Newton’s world or the theory of Maxwell’s electromagnetism and Faraday.
Representatives of the Councils for Education did not arrive at the awards ceremony, but in response sent to the Chairman of the Schnobe Board of Trustees, the basket with bananas. A year later, officials re-elected and Darwin’s theory returned to the school curriculum. However, their business turned out to be a lively: In 2005, the Council for the formation of the state of Kansas again voted to minimize the mention of evolution. This time, supporters of creatures spoke more definitely. They offered to exclude Darwin’s theory from the secondary school program, as it contradicts the concept of the Divine Creation of the World.
4. Physics, 2000: Levishing Frog
Dutch physicist of our origin Andrei Game and Englishman Sir Michael Berry made a frog soar in the air contrary to gravity. The experimental animal broke off from the ground using a powerful electromagnet: magnifying its field, the frog itself becomes a weak magnet and pushes up.
This property – induced diamagnetism – most substances have. In the process of experiments, scientists levitized a variety of items: for example, a drop of water and a forest walnut. Shnobelevka laureates believe that it is possible to undergo magnetic levitation, but the field should be large enough, and this is not yet achieved. But after 10 years, Andrei Game became the first winner of two premiums in the world: Schnobel and Nobel. He received the last graphene for the invention – the finest material with unique electronic properties.
3. Biology, 2000: Tasting of Golobastikov
Canadian scientist Richard Wassersug experienced way confirmed the theory that predators do not eat brightly painted tadpoles – they are too tasteful. True, instead of predators larvae frogs tasting graduates. They estimated their taste on a five-point scale – from "delicious" to "very unpleasant". (About delicious food to which it is impossible to look – a new review "My Planet".) The prototype was needed to hold 10-20 seconds in the mouth, to bite the tail, then the skin and only then delay. Fortunately, all this did not have to swallow: the participants knocked fiercely and rinsed the mouth with water before continuing the tests. As a result, the most noticeable headastic was recognized as an inedible – he was called bitter six of the nine tastors. Taking the award, Wasseuri said: "Finally, the Schnobel Prize was presented not for some other tasteless scientific report".
2. Biology, 2008: Bloch in the jump
Three scientists from the national school of veterinary medicine in Toulouse made a grand opening: fleas that live on dogs jump on and above parasites living on cats. Dog’s flea jumped on average by 30 cm long and 15.5 cm in height, feline overcame only 20 cm long and 13 cm up. Competitions for jumping in height took place in plastic cylindrical tubes, which gradually increased from 1 to 30 cm. Based on the cylinder, there were ten insects of one species, and then fixed the number of individuals who managed to jump above the tube. The winner of the tournament was the dog flea, jumped by 25 cm, champion among cat fleas took the maximum height of 17 cm. And the laurels in the form of the Schnobel Prize went to the authors of the experiment.
1. Physics, 2017: Liquid cats
Cats can be simultaneously both solid and liquid – such a law of Kotophysics opened French scientist Mark-Antoine Fenin. On the incredible ability of fluffy to stay at once in two states, he wrote in his work "On Cat Reorology".
With the age of cutting cats rises, and adult cats spread faster than kittens, and the oldest theoretically can go into a gaseous state
The author was repelled from the well-known definitions: in the solid state the substance has a fixed volume and shape, in liquid – supports a fixed volume, but adapts to the form of the container, in gaseous – can take any volume. Considering photos of the cats on the Internet, the researcher came to the conclusion: times the animals take the shape of the vessel in which they can be considered to be liquid. With the age of fluidity rises and adult cats spread faster than kittens, and the oldest theoretically can go to a gaseous state, says Schneobel laureate.
