The first-ever Ig Nobel Prize show in France happened this week. Here is a review by Media24 [machine-translated into English]. (Media24 also has podcast episode about this.)
Soon after, the magazine Sciences et Avenir published a review.
Later in the week, the wire service AFP interviewed some of the Ig people.
For the first time in history, France was able to witness the presentation of the most “serious” competitor to the Nobel Prize
A major first in France, in Paris, with the arrival of the Ig Nobel Tour Show.
On the evening of December 9, 2025, in the Friedel Amphitheater at Chimie ParisTech – PSL, science proved it could also make people smile. For its first appearance in France, the Ig Nobel Tour Show drew a large audience, eager to experience an evening that blended entertainment, science communication, and scientific cabaret. And while laughter filled the air from beginning to end, it was the genuine, real, and rigorous scientific interest of the research presented that ultimately prevailed.
Because for more than three decades the Ig Nobel Prizes have rewarded works that “make you laugh, then think”: unusual, sometimes confusing studies, but published in real scientific journals, evaluated by peers, and revealing the sometimes unexpected paths by which knowledge progresses.
The Ig Nobel Prizes: another gateway to science
Created in the early 1990s by the team behind the magazine Annals of Improbable Research , the Ig Nobel Prizes aim to demonstrate that curiosity, wonder, and even absurdity can be driving forces in scientific research.
Contrary to popular belief, nothing in these works is fanciful or fictitious: experiments, protocols, measurements, publications—everything adheres to academic standards. What changes is the starting point, the angle, the question posed, often stemming from an everyday observation or an unusual situation.
The Ig Nobel Prizes: another gateway to science
Created in the early 1990s by the team behind the magazine Annals of Improbable Research , the Ig Nobel Prizes aim to demonstrate that curiosity, wonder, and even absurdity can be driving forces in scientific research.
Contrary to popular belief, nothing in these works is fanciful or fictitious: experiments, protocols, measurements, publications—everything adheres to academic standards. What changes is the starting point, the angle, the question posed, often stemming from an everyday observation or an unusual situation.
It is this approach, both serious and unconventional, that the Tour Show, hosted by Marc Abrahams and his top hat, brings to venues around the world. In Paris, this format has taken on the air of a true science festival.
A Parisian premiere full of energy and enthusiasm
As soon as the doors opened, the Friedel amphitheater quickly filled up. Curious students, amused researchers, teachers, and those simply interested in unusual knowledge—the audience reflected the diversity that the Ig Nobel Prizes aim to reach.
That evening, applause was often accompanied by laughter, and laughter by astonished “ohs!” at the ingenuity of the scientific approaches presented.
Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and creator of the Ig Nobel Prizes, adopted his usual style: incisive, humorous, but always rigorous on the facts. The presentations followed one another at a brisk pace, illustrating the spirit of the Tour Show: no downtime, no drawn-out sections. The presentations must remain dynamic, clear, and above all, understandable to everyone.
When giant bananas time the researchers
The unique feature of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and a real attraction of the Parisian evening, came from a stage setup that was quite unexpected: members of the organization, disguised as giant bananas, were ready to interrupt speakers who had exceeded their allotted speaking time.
At regular intervals, a group of humanoid bananas would suddenly appear from a corner of the stage, waving their arms and urging the researcher to draw a conclusion immediately.
Laughter was guaranteed in the amphitheater… but it also served as a reminder, in the tradition of the Ig Nobel Prizes, that clarity and conciseness are integral to the art of science communication.
“We’ve never been interrupted by bananas at a scientific conference,” a researcher chuckled backstage. Perhaps bananas are the best way to remind everyone that time is limited… and that the audience should never be bored.
Five presentations that were as wacky as they were intelligent
Throughout the evening, five award winners or speakers presented their work, each in their own way, humorously playing on the audience’s surprise, but without ever abandoning scientific rigor.
Anatomy: Capillary spirals and hemispheres
Researchers Roman Hossein Khonsari and Marjolaine Willems presented their award-winning work in 2024, which focused on the direction of the spiral of human hair according to the geographical hemisphere. The study stemmed from a question about the natural asymmetries of the human body, arising from the observation of identical twins, except for the famous cowlick!
Chemistry: Sober verses, drunken verses
Daniel Bonn and Antoine Deblais, the 2024 Ig Nobel laureates in Chemistry, studied the variations in the movement capacity of drunk and sober worms using chromatography. A study with a whimsical premise, but whose results shed light on the effects of alcohol on simple organisms.
Physics: Are cats solid or liquid?
Physicist Marc-Antoine Fardin, who won the prize in 2017, reenacted his famous demonstration showing that a cat, by virtue of its ability to perfectly fill a container, can be considered a liquid in the rheological sense. A playful way to approach a complex branch of physics… and an Ig Nobel classic.
Physics 2025: Cacio e pepe sauce
Daniel Maria Busiello presented his research on phase transitions in the Italian cacio e pepe sauce . Through this culinary topic, he actually highlighted a whole reflection on the complex physical phenomena in food mixtures.
Biology: The first case of homosexual necrophilia in a mallard duck in history
A highlight of the evening was the presentation by Dutch biologist Kees Moeliker, who recounted his documented observation of a case of homosexual necrophilia in a male mallard duck, work that earned him an Ig Nobel Prize in Biology in 2003. The audience, oscillating between laughter and fascinated consternation, discovered a study emblematic of the Ig Nobel spirit: shocking in appearance, but revealing of real, often overlooked, animal behaviors.
A joyful, open, and profoundly serious science
At the end of the show, as the participants strolled through the streets of the Latin Quarter, a shared sentiment seemed to emerge: the Ig Nobel Prizes are more than just lighthearted, quirky entertainment. Behind each study presented, behind each laugh, lies a genuine scientific approach.
The questions raised by this research allow us to revisit blind spots, test original hypotheses, explore phenomena that no one had thought to study, and sometimes even open up unexpected avenues in the life sciences, physics, or psychology.
Because if the evening begins with a smile, it often ends with a reflection:
Why do we study some things and not others? What deserves or does not deserve the status of a scientific subject? What place for humor in research?
The Ig Nobel Prizes, through this Parisian event, remind us that science is not static. It can be serious without being somber, demanding without being inaccessible. It can make us laugh, amaze us, sometimes disturb us, but above all, it can inspire us to understand the world differently.
For a Parisian premiere, the gamble paid off completely: a brilliant, joyful, unexpected, and surprisingly profound evening.
To learn more about the Ig Nobel Prizes: https://improbable.com
The following week, TF1Info published an interview with two of the Ig Nobel Prize winners, about their research on human head hair swirl direction.