{"id":199306,"date":"2026-09-07T16:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=199306"},"modified":"2026-09-07T16:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:36:05","slug":"nederlander-wint-ig-nobelprijs-voor-serieuze-onderbroekenlol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/09\/07\/nederlander-wint-ig-nobelprijs-voor-serieuze-onderbroekenlol\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutchman wins Ig Noble Prize for burying tighty whities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How healthy is the soil? Three scientists buried a thousand pairs of underwear in 25 different countries and checked two months later what condition the tighty whities were in. They have won an Ig Nobel Prize for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During the ceremony the researchers showed the underpants from their research with which they won the award.<\/p>

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The Ig<\/a> Nobel Prizes<\/a> are awarded for research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. They are presented one month before the actual Nobel Prizes are awarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, Utrecht professor of biology Marcel van der Heijden and colleagues from Switzerland and Germany won the Ig Nobel Prize for soil research because they had a thousand pairs of underwear buried<\/a>. At the ceremony, the winners threw underwear into the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a joke with a serious edge. The research had to find people willing to take part in the research. Burying a pair of underwear for science? Of course, the thousand volunteers were found in no time. The underwear were put around a kind of skeleton, so that it kept its shape well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prize for biomechanics went to researchers who devised a new definition of kissing that is biologically useful for ants, birds, polar bears and humans: mouth to mouth without transferring food. At the ceremony, one of the winners kissed a ‘caveman’ on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic research into class differences was also recognised. The researchers found that people from the upper class are more likely to steal sweets from children’s supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the 36th time that the prizes have been awarded. This previously took place in Boston, but the organisation has left<\/a> the United States: there is little left to laugh about there when it comes to science. The festive<\/a> ceremony<\/a>, attended by several Nobel Prize winners, was held in Zurich this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other findings this year: cockroach milk contains three times as much energy as cow’s milk; a mosquito ‘snout’ can be used for 3D printers; parents like the smell of babies, but not that of teenagers; and we appreciate our friends more when they are sometimes mean to people we don’t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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