The 36th annual Ig Nobel Awards, a satirical recognition of scientific research that makes people laugh and then think, will be held in Zurich this year instead of the United States due to concerns over travel visas for international participants, reports Baltimore Chronicle with reference to the Guardian. The decision marks the first time in the ceremony’s history that the event will take place outside the US, traditionally held each September just weeks before the official Nobel Prizes are announced.
Organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, a digital magazine that highlights unconventional and humorous scientific studies, the Ig Nobels have for 35 years attracted researchers from around the world who travel to the US to receive their awards, often amidst playful spectacles such as showers of paper airplanes. Marc Abrahams, editor of the magazine and master of ceremonies, explained in an email interview that “During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country. We cannot in good conscience ask the new winners, or the international journalists who cover the event, to travel to the USA this year.”
This relocation comes amid restrictive US immigration policies under Donald Trump, which have focused on deportations of migrants residing illegally in the country, as well as holders of student and visitor exchange visas. The organizers emphasized that safety and accessibility for participants were the primary factors in choosing Europe as the new venue.
In recent years, winners have tackled topics ranging from painting cows with zebra-like stripes to reduce fly bites, to studies on pizza preferences of lizards. Last year’s recipients included researchers from Europe who found that moderate alcohol consumption can enhance foreign language speaking ability, and a scientist who devoted decades to studying the growth of fingernails. Despite the humor of the awards, four of the ten winners last year opted not to travel to Boston for the ceremony, which has been hosted at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University in previous years.
This year’s European ceremony will be produced in collaboration with institutions within the ETH Domain, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Zurich. Abrahams noted, “Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things – Albert Einstein’s physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind – and is again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas.”
Swiss epidemiologist Milo Puhan, an Ig Nobel winner in 2017, welcomed the shift. Puhan’s research demonstrated that playing the didgeridoo strengthens muscles and structures that keep the upper airways open, reducing nighttime snoring and the severity of sleep apnea. “The Ig Nobel prize makes research visible, and does so with a wink,” he said.
According to Abrahams, the Zurich ceremony will now occur every other year, with interim events rotating through other European cities. Currently, there are no plans to return the awards ceremony to the United States.
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