Arts “An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Over Various Surfaces.”
BBCNews highlights last year’s Ig Nobel winnersscholars whose academic research papers make “people laugh and then think.”
Such as: “Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans.”
Dr Paxton and three cohorts set about studying ostrich mating patterns, only to discover that, the creatures tended to direct their mating rituals at the researchers rather than their avian equals.“It appeared to us the female ostriches were directing their sexual behaviour more to us,” says Mr Paxton, who is appearing on the current Ig Nobel tour.
I’m not sure what this is supposed to make me think about, but the mental images are pleasant.
Another star of this year’s tour is Claire Rind, of Newcastle University, who won a 2005 Ig Nobel for her work showing edited extracts of Star Wars to insects.The reason? In research part-funded by car-maker Volvo, Dr Rind was trying to track whether locusts - whose neuro-circuitry have, apparently, been extensively mapped - could detect imminent collisions. What with all the battles between X-wing fighters and Tie fighters, there are lots of those in the original Star Wars.
“We were studying the responses of visual stimuli. We found locusts have dedicated nerve cells specifically to detect collisions,” says Dr Rind.
The trick for Volvo, now, will be to use the Star Wars research to design an artificial eye for its cars.
Fascinating! But it doesn’t quite beat “The Effect of Country Music on Suicide”
It was determined that whereas the insects enjoyed the original Star Wars picture with its handmade quality and zippy irreverance, they felt the later films lacked the same wit and flair, becoming overburdened with baroque CGI effects, juvenile writing and wooden acting.