Ig Nobels to move awards to Europe due to concern over US travel visas

"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. The move comes amid Donald Trump's sweeping crackdown on immigration, in which he has focused on deporting migrants illegally in the US, as well as holders of student and visitor exchange visas."

"Winners have for the past 35 years traveled to the US to collect their prizes and be showered with paper airplanes. Last year, winners included a team of researchers from Japan studying whether painting cows with zebra-like stripes would prevent flies from biting them. Another group from Africa and Europe pondered the types of pizza that lizards preferred to eat."

"The year's winners, honored in 10 categories, also include a group from Europe that found drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak a foreign language and a researcher who studied fingernail growth for decades. But four of the 10 winners last year chose not to travel to Boston for the ceremony."

The Ig Nobels, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, are moving their 36th annual ceremony from the United States to Zurich, Switzerland. This marks the first time in 35 years the event has relocated outside the US. The decision stems from concerns about visa accessibility and safety for international attendees, including award winners and journalists covering the event, amid recent immigration policy changes. Previous ceremonies were held at prestigious US institutions including Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University. Past winners have studied topics ranging from zebra-striped cow painting to prevent fly bites, to pizza preferences of lizards, to alcohol's effects on foreign language ability. The ceremony will now be produced in collaboration with Swiss institutions including ETH Domain and the University of Zurich.

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