Curiosities

The Ig Nobel Prizes have always been awarded in the United States. (File photo)

The Ig Nobel Prizes have always been awarded in the United States. (File photo)

Keystone

From the energy content of cockroach milk to smelly teenagers and splash-free urinals: Ten scientific studies designed to “make you laugh first and then think” have been honored with “Ig Nobel Prizes” in Zurich.

Keystone-SDA

Keystone-SDA

Today at 19:00

For the first time in the award’s 35-year history, the ceremony took place outside the United States on Thursday.

Among the award-winning works is a study on cockroach milk: According to the study, proteins from the milk of a certain species of cockroach provide three times as much energy as cow’s milk proteins.

Also honored: design plans for splash-free urinals, a biological definition of kissing, rich people who take candy away from children, the aerodynamics of blowing your nose, snake bite tests, mosquito proboscis as 3D printer nozzles, and our preference for friends who are mean to our enemies.

Swiss researchers also received an award: Marcel van der Heijden and Franz Bender won a prize for an experiment in which underwear was buried to assess soil health.