The Ig Nobel Prize, which satirizes its more noble namesake, is moving its award ceremony to Europe following concerns about the safety of those attending the US event.
The event's founder said that the awards could not ask scientists and journalists to attend unless the event was moved elsewhere.
The Ig Nobel Prize has been held in the US for 35 years. Organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine, it aims to honor less obvious scientific achievements, while making people laugh, and then making them think.
Ceremonies have so far taken place at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University. The next is scheduled to be held in Zurich, Switzerland.
Marc Abrahams, founder, emcee of the ceremony, and the magazine's editor, said: "During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country. We cannot in good conscience ask the new winners, or the international journalists who cover the event, to travel to the USA this year."
The 2026 event is being produced in collaboration with institutions of the Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and the University of Zurich.
"The city of Zurich and its institutions rapidly moved mountains and committed to make this possible," Abrahams said. "Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things – Albert Einstein's physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind – and is again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas."
At the event, winners are awarded tacky trophies, such as a piece of paper and 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, a demonetized currency rendered worthless by hyperinflation. However, real Nobel laureates perform the prize-giving and are often happy to join in with the madcap event.
Previous Ig Nobel hits include how wombats poop cubes, the chap who LARPed as a badger, and the miraculous properties of bacon.
Acceptance speeches are short. One year, a little girl was tasked with stomping on stage to shout "Please stop, I'm bored!" whenever a winner went on for more than a minute. ®
Source: The register