The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize winners were introduced at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday evening, September 3, 2026.
SUNDAY — Ig Nobel Face-to-Face in Tokyo
This Sunday, September 20, 2026, the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo will host, for the fourth consecutive year, a special Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event. Four Ig Nobel Prize winners and a Nobel laureate will ask each other about their work… and answer questions from the audience. Paper airplanes will fill the air. Kiyoshi Furusawa will […]
Why Are or Aren’t There Maps in Novels?
If you meet a person who reads novels, and who has mentioned to you that some of those novels include a map, consider mentioning to to that person that they can read a study about the question of why there are or are not maps in some novels. The study is: “Castles, Battlefields, and Continents: […]
The nature of the Igs, noted in Nature
Nature magazine published a nice editorial about the Ig Nobel Prizes, on September 8, 2026. You might enjoy reading it. And here’s a quick video presentation by Nature journalist Maren Hunsberger: You might also enjoy dipping into some of the other press accounts of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and the new winners. HISTORICAL […]
Newman’s Happy Index of ‘Morbid’ Surprising Bits
Saul Newman has written a book about his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research. The book is called Morbid — Debunking Modern Longevity Science. It’s published by MIT Press. (The photo shows Newman with MIT Press’s director, Amy Brand, and the book.) Newman is a Senior Research Fellow at University College London and the University of Oxford. […]