The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think". The awards are sometimes veiled criticism (or gentle satire). Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater, and they are followed by a set of public lectures by the winners at MIT.
Ig Nobel Prize
Box for sleepers
Sleepers with light
Umbrella for twos
Whistle with umbrella
Tooth brush
Shoes with umbrella
Tent for fishing
Ear-ring
Tea pot
A live frog is magnetically levitated, an experiment that earned Andre Geim