- Ever wondered what kind of pizza lizards like or whether smelly shoe racks are, indeed, smelly?
The annual Nobel Prize ceremony hands awards to the highest achievements in science and culture. The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony doesn’t.
Instead, this annual tongue-in-cheek award ceremony recognizes some of the strangest and funniest science of the year. It’s not all about laughs, though — the organizers firmly believe that highlighting unusual science gets people more engaged with it.
We would agree. After all, we have a whole category on weird science.
Without further ado, here are the 10 winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes.
Biology Prize: Zebra-striped Cows
The biology prize went to a Japanese research team that painted zebra stripes on cows. The scientists wanted to find out whether the dazzle camouflage would deter possibly disease-spreading flies.
It turns out that it does. The results of the study showed that cows painted with stripes had only half as many fly bites as those that grazed au naturel.
This is good news for farmers who want to protect their animals. They don’t need to buy expensive and toxic insecticides — all they need is some body paint.
Literature Prize: 35-Year Fingernail Growth Record
The 2025 Ig Nobel literature prize was awarded to the late Dr. William B. Bean. With the posthumous award, the prize committee wanted to recognize Dr. Bean’s life’s work.
Specifically, he spent 35 tracking, recording, and analyzing the growth rate of his left thumbnail.
The results of Dr. Bean’s study suggest that human nail growth slows down with age. Now you know.
Psychology Prize: Compliments Turn You into a Narcissist
The Psychology Prize went to Marcin Zajenkowski and Gilles Gignac. They studied what happens when you compliment people’s intelligence.
To carry out the study, the researchers set up a fake IQ test and had both regular people and those with diagnosed narcissism take it. They then showed the test subjects that they scored very high and complimented their intelligence.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t much difference in how narcissists and others responded to the praise. Turns out, everyone gets a big head if you tell them they’re super smart.
Nutrition Prize: Lizards’ Pizza Preferences
A team led by Daniele Dendi took a look at the feeding preferences of rainbow lizards in Togo, West Africa. Specifically, they examined what kind of pizza the lizards like.
Rainbow lizards typically eat bugs, but at a vacation resort, they were chowing down on discarded pizza slices. The researchers wanted to find out which type of pizza attracted the lizards the most.
The answer? They like four-cheese pizza.
Pediatrics Prize: Garlic’s Effects on Nursing
Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp studied what happens when a nursing mother eats a lot of garlic. Does the flavor transfer into the mother’s milk, and what does the baby think of it?
Well, according to the findings, the garlic flavor and smell does transfer to the milk, peaking at two hours after the mother consumed the garlic. Curiously, babies spent a longer time nursing during this time period.
Conclusion: babies like garlic.
Chemistry Prize: Does Eating Teflon Keep You Full?
A team of scientists led by Rotem Naftalovich was on the lookout for ways to help people lose weight in a novel way. They examined whether adding Teflon (a biologically safe version of it) to people’s food would help keep them full without increasing calorie intake.
Well, yes. Eating Teflon did make people feel full.
You probably still shouldn’t chew on your frying pan if you’re dieting.
Engineering Design Prize: Shoe Smell’s Effects on Shoe Rack Use
Have you ever wondered whether having stinky shoes on a shoe rack makes the rack less enjoyable to use? Vikash Kumar and Sarthak Mittal have, so they conducted a study on the matter.
Their results showed that a reeking shoe rack is more unpleasant to use and be around than a nice smelling one. Based on their results, Kumar and Mittal suggest engineering solutions to eliminate the smell.
We have a solution, too — wash your dang shoes!
Aviation Prize: Can Bats Fly and Echolocate Drunk?
Francisco Sanchez and his research team wanted answers of whether consuming alcohol and getting drunk makes it more difficult for bats to do bat things. Yes, yes it does.
The results of the study showed that drunk bats fly significantly slower than sober ones. Additionally, their echolocation abilities were negatively impacted by alcohol.
Not to discredit the scientists’ work, but does this really come as a surprise?
Physics Prize: The Physics of Pasta Sauce
Researcher Giacomo Bartolucci led his team into what must be the must Italian scientific study ever conducted. They aimed to discover why the Cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) pasta sauce tends to clump unpleasantly during cooking.
Without going into too much detail, they discovered that starch concentration in the sauce leads to clumping. Most specifically, clumps are the most likely to form when the sauce enters what the research team dubbed the “Mozzarella Phase.”
As we said — the most Italian study ever.
Peace Prize: Being Drunk Can Help You Speak Foreign Languages
Last but not least, the 2025 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was handed to a team led by Fritz Renner. They examined whether getting drunk made non-Dutch people better at speaking Dutch.
As it turns out, it does. Native Dutch speakers reported that test subjects who were drunk had much better pronunciation than their sober counterparts.
And that tells you everything you need to know about the Dutch language.