There are a many odd, even crazy-seeming, scientific studies occurring in any given year, but we rarely hear much about them unless we specifically seek out news or papers written about such studies. There are also some rather strange practices occurring that inspire "Strange but True" and other lines of news and hit videos. An example of this is how one European mayor solved the obnoxious practice of luxury car owners parking wherever they chose.
Wasabi alarm, beetle sex win Ig Nobel spoof prizes
Peter Snyder, a professor of Neurology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, was part of two research teams who won the Medicine Prize for studying how the urge to urinate affects decision-making.
Snyder's team set up an experiment in which volunteers did computer tests and then periodically drank 250 ml (about 8 ounces) of water as the scientists measured the effects of the volunteers' gradually swelling bladders on attention and working memory. The aim was to see who could last the longest before bolting for the toilet.
The study found that attention and working memory suffer when you are so focused on having to pee.
"When you gotta go, you gotta go," Snyder said.
Another notable winner was the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, Arturas Zuokas, who took "the Peace Prize for showing that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank." See a video here.
- Jon
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