Research that makes us laugh and think
How can you improve archeological research by swallowing a shrew? And why do mice survive longer after a heart transplant if they listen to opera?
On Thursday 27 March media is welcome to hear some of the IgNobel laureates talk about their research. Also attending will be the father of the prize, Marc Abrahams, editor-in-chief of the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
The lectures are co-arranged by the Swedish sceptic organisation Vetenskap & Folkbildning and Karolinska Institutet, and are part of the AIR lecture tour of Scandinavia. Journalists are welcome to attend and to interview the speakers (by arrangement).
The IgNobel Prize is a play on the word ignoble (dishonourable and unworthy) and was first awarded in 1991 in recognition of research of the more unusual, creative kind. It is awarded annually in ten different fields, including the conventional categories of the Nobel Prize proper. Far from denigrating its recipients' work, the prize is usually received with humour and appreciation. According to the organisers, the aim of the prize is to first make people laugh, and then make them think.
Date and venue:
3.30 PM, Thursday 27 March 2014 in the Vesalius auditorium, Karolinska Institutet, Berzelius väg 3, Solna
Speakers:
- Brian Crandall, winner of the IgNobel Prize in archeology 2013: “One Shrew Tamed”
- Masanori Niimi, winner of the IgNobel Prize in medicine 2013: “Brain and Immunity: Opera music and herbal odor induce cardiac allograft survival in mice”
- Kees Moeliker, winner of the IgNobel Prize in biology 2003: “The rise and fall of the pubic lice”
- Marc Abrahams, founder and editor-in-chief of the humorous and satirical scientific journal, The Annals of Improbable Research. He is also the father of the IgNobel Prize and an author, journalist and speaker.
Read more about Marc Abrahams
For more information, please contact:
Gustav Nilsonne
Mobile: + 46 73-679 87 43
E-mail: gustav.nilsonne@ki.se
Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. It accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. Since 1901 the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has selected the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.