# The most memorable Ig Nobel Prize winners

The Ig Nobels honour research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. From levitating frogs to cube-shaped wombat poo, these are some of the most famous winners. Which one is your favourite?

- 109 votes · 17 items
- Mar 4, 2026 · cole_goofball
- https://even.best/en/l/2200/the-most-memorable-ig-nobel-prize-winners

## Top 17

1. **The levitating frog (2000)** (8 · ▲11 ▼3) — Andre Geim and Michael Berry floated a frog with magnets; Geim later won a real Nobel.
2. **Why toast lands butter-side down (1996)** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — Robert Matthews showed it comes down to the physics of tables and toast.
3. **The British standard for a cup of tea (1999)** (7 · ▲8 ▼1) — A six-page specification on how to make tea properly.
4. **The Royal Navy's "Bang!" (2000)** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Peace prize for telling sailors to shout "Bang!" instead of firing live shells.
5. **Chickens prefer beautiful humans (2003)** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — A study found chickens react like people to attractive faces.
6. **The perfect biscuit dunk (1999)** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — Len Fisher calculated the best way to dunk a biscuit in tea.
7. **Expensive placebos work better (2008)** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Pricey fake pills were more effective than cheap fake pills.
8. **Why woodpeckers don't get headaches (2006)** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — How their skulls survive pecking all day.
9. **Sixty years of cracking one hand's knuckles (2009)** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Donald Unger cracked only his left hand for decades: no arthritis in either.
10. **Roller coasters for asthma (2010)** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — A ride on a roller coaster eased asthma symptoms.
11. **Slipping on a banana peel (2014)** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — Japanese physicists measured exactly how slippery a banana skin is.
12. **Pizza made in Italy is good for you (2019)** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Evidence that pizza may protect against illness, but only if made and eaten in Italy.
13. **Cube-shaped wombat poo (2019)** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — How and why wombats make cubes.
14. **The teenager repellent (2006)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — A high-pitched noise only young ears can hear, later turned into ringtones.
15. **Dung beetles navigate by the Milky Way (2013)** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — Lost dung beetles find their way home by looking at the galaxy.
16. **Cows painted like zebras (2025)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Japanese researchers found zebra stripes keep biting flies off cattle.
17. **The runaway alarm clock (2005)** (0 · ▲3 ▼3) — Clocky, an alarm clock that rolls away and hides so you have to get up.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.