Rich people more likely to steal children’s sweets, finds Ig Nobel prize-winning study
— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) September 3, 2026 at 1:05 PM
– After 35 years in Boston, this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes were held in Zurich instead of the US due to the States being a shithole. They handed out prizes in Economics, Physics, Olfaction, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Biomechanics, Technology, Soil Science, and Peace.
– The Economics winners designed 7 studies to examine whether social status had an effect on willingness to engage in unethical behavior. They found that wealthier people were twice as likely to steal candy intended for children, lie about their scores on dice rolls, and say that greed is good. They also found that expensive cars were more likely to cut other drivers off in intersections and cut off pedestrians in crosswalks.
– Physics went to researchers who designed splashless urinals based on the ideal angle to pee at based on dogs, and then modeling that on humans (30 degrees.) They came up with a design based on a nautilus shell (it looks like a half-chute with a scoop at the bottom) to suit people of varying heights.
Olfaction: Previous studies have hypothesized that parents don’t like the way their older kids smell as they no longer need to bond as much, so they surveyed parents about their feelings about their children’s smells and found that they diminished as their children aged. Their kids still smell better than other kids, and on par with their partners.
Chemistry: Scientists extracted milk crystals from a species of cockroach that produces milk and determined the structure of the crystals. They found that the lattice structure enabled it to store 3x the energy as dairy milk.
Biomechanics: Researchers came up with a non-anthropocentric definition of kissing — “non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer” — and then used it to determine whether other species kiss. They found the behavior in most large apes for which there’s sufficient data, but Eastern gorillas seem to have lost the behavior.
Medicine: To minimize the risk of sinus infections, big, long nose blows are best.
Biology: Researchers repeatedly stepped on different parts of jararacas — pit vipers native to Brazil — at different temperatures and different parts of the day to see what would make them bite. Warmer temps, daytime, and stepping on the head triggered more bites. Young snakes, especially females, and smaller male snakes were also more likely to bite. However, the study was retracted because they weren’t cleared by their IRB on the ethics of stepping on snakes. I just…
Technology: Researchers compared the stingers and probosci of multiple insects to determine which is best as a nozzle for high-res 3D printing in a process called “necroprinting” which uses organic and inorganic parts. Mosquitoes were the best, and achieved a resolution of 18-22 microns, which means they could be used to print “scaffolding for living cells or microscopic electronic components” cheaper than inorganic nozzles.
Soil Science: The Tea Bag Index has been used to study soil quality by burying them and seeing how much organic matter is broken down by microbes in the soil. Scientists wanted to see if other materials are better, so they had 1000 people around the world bury 2 pairs of cotton underwear and 12 tea bags and dig half of them up at 30 and 60 days, note their condition, and send them back. They found that underpants are equally good as teabags at showing soil conditions, and that private garden soil was best, turf lawn soil was worst, and ag fields and meadows were in the middle.
Peace: Most studies on friendship only look at relationships between friends, so researchers looked at how we want our friends to interact with other people. We like our friends to be nice to us, and nice — but less nice — to neutral strangers, and to hate our enemies.
