Japan wins igNobel Prize!

[Taro Toporific]

Japan wins 2010 Ig Nobel Prize for: SLIME MOLD SOLVING TOKYO TRAIN ROUTING! [color="Silver"](again, meh)[/color]

http://www.youtube.com/improbableresearch

2010 Ig Nobel Prize TRANSPORTATION PLANNING: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi, Dan Bebber, Mark Fricker for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.*

Read more: http://www.newsok.com/winners-of-the-2010-ig-nobel-awards/article/feed/196531?custom_click=headlines_widget#ixzz114DqqGbm

This is the SECOND igNobel win for Nakagaki, Kobayashi, Tero et al.

In 2008 they won the Ig Nobel Prize for COGNITIVE SCIENCE...
Toshiyuki Nakagaki of Hokkaido University, Japan, Hiroyasu Yamada of Nagoya, Japan, Ryo Kobayashi of Hiroshima University, Atsushi Tero of Presto JST, Akio Ishiguro of Tohoku University, and Ágotá Tóth of the University of Szeged, Hungary, for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles.
COGNITIVE SCIENCE PRIZE. Toshiyuki Nakagaki of Hokkaido University, Japan, Hiroyasu Yamada of Nagoya, Japan, Ryo Kobayashi of Hiroshima University, Atsushi Tero of Presto JST, Akio Ishiguro of Tohoku University, and Ágotá Tóth of the University of Szeged, Hungary, for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles.
REFERENCE: "Intelligence: Maze-Solving by an Amoeboid Organism," Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Hiroyasu Yamada, and Ágota Tóth, Nature, vol. 407, September 2000, p. 470.

[Screwed Up Eyes]

Doesn't surprise me in the least....there's not a country on earth that knows about slime as much as this cuntry....

[Taro Toporific]

Dr. Hajime Kimata of Japan jointly "won" the 2015 IgNobel Medicine Prize for experiments to study the biomedical benefit of intense kissing (and other intimate, interpersonal ACTS).
-- @improbresearch September 17, 2015

medicine-prize.jpg

_________________

Also, Dr. NakaMats performed of his “swan song” at this year's ceremony.

Dr Nakamats takes center stage to sing a song about cancer. He has cancer and only a few months to live. So, he wrote a song about it.
It is an oddly moving, optimistic song, sung by a man living life to the full. The crowd claps along, and Dr. NakaMats stands to take a bow.
-- Improbable Research (@improbresearch)September 17, 2015

swan-song.jpg

dr-nakamats-text.gif

[Taro Toporific]

UPDATE

Huh? Kissing nothing to sneeze at? Osaka doctor's allergy relief study bags Ig Nobel award
The Japan Times September 18, 2015
A Japanese scientist won the spoof Ig Nobel medicine prize in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday for a study that revealed kissing could reduce allergic reactions in humans.
"I wish that people will understand the new effect of kissing and I also hope that kissing will bring not only love but also attenuation of allergic reaction,” Dr. Hajime Kimata...
...The groups had their skin tested for their reactions to Japanese cedar pollen, dust mites and histamine. After kissing for 30 minutes while listening to “soft music,” such as Celine Dion’s love ballad “My Heart Will Go On,” the patients had their skin tested again for allergic reactions.
Kimata found that for the groups of patients with eczema and hay fever, their skin did not react as much to Japanese cedar pollen and dust mites after 30 minutes of kissing. Their reaction to histamine, however, was not affected.
"These findings indicate that direct action of love may be beneficial, which may in turn reduce allergic responses"...
More...


https://twitter.com/japantimes/status/6 ... 2401392640

[Mike Oxlong]

This year:
Perception Prize - Atsuki Higashiyama and Kohei Adachi, for investigating whether things look different when you bend over and view them between your legs.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37443204

[Mike Oxlong]

Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces

[Russell]

Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces

Well, it certainly is a hell of a way to discourage meat consumption...