Pigeons in the Driver's Seat: Bizarre Studies That Just Won the Oscars of Weird Science

This year’s Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced, and as always, they honor the most side-splittingly ridiculous scientific research conducted around the world. The Ig Nobels, a parody of the prestigious Nobel Prizes, are given out annually to recognize studies that “couldn’t or shouldn’t be repeated” and “make people laugh and then think.” Two of the most head-turning winners this year include research on using pigeons to guide missiles and an examination of the swimming abilities of dead fish.

The concept of pigeons in military technology might sound farfetched, but researchers from the United States successfully trained pigeons to recognize and peck at targets projected onto a screen. This unusual experiment led the scientists to propose that pigeons could be used to guide missiles to their targets, effectively making them “the ultimate precision-guided munition,” as described by the researchers. Who knew that pigeons, often considered mere pests, possess a potential application in the realm of high-tech warfare?

On a different note, a study that tested the swimming abilities of dead fish might seem like the makings of a bizarre joke, but the research actually provides insight into “the flapping dynamics of deceased animals,” as claimed by the researchers. The ingenious minds behind this project were able to make a deceased fish swim using a clever combination of electrical and mechanical stimuli. The study resulted in a deceased fish moving its tail in a life-like motion, a phenomenon that left everyone wondering: What is the limit to what science can achieve?

When announcing the winners, Marc Abrahams, the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and the host of the Ig Nobel Awards, stated that the ceremony, which is famous for its wild and zany acceptance speeches, included some of the “most interesting” winners yet. The prize ceremony, which took place at Harvard University, featured Nobel laureates distributing the awards to this year’s group of outlandish scientists.

Each winner of the Ig Nobel Prize received an award that consists of $10 trillion in a pseudo Zimbabwean currency, which is, in reality, a worthless denomination (the equivalent of about four U.S. dollars). Nevertheless, the prestige of being an Ig Nobel laureate and earning recognition for conducting the wackiest scientific experiments out there makes up for the monetary value.

The Ig Noble Prizes might not carry as much weight as their Nobel Prize counterparts, but they remind us that science, even the zaniest kind, has the potential to introduce some amusement to our lives. This awards ceremony definitely succeeds in poking fun at the traditional definition of ‘science,’ and we couldn’t be more grateful for its existence.