Painted cows and pasta sauce physics: A look at this year's Ig Nobel Prize winners

"A team of researchers from Japan wondered if painting cows with zebralike stripes would prevent flies from biting them. Another group from Africa and Europe pondered the types of pizza lizards preferred to eat. Those researchers were honored Thursday in Boston with an Ig Nobel, the prize - a handmade model of a human stomach - for comical scientific achievement. In lieu of a big paycheck, each winner was also given a single hand wipe."

""When I did this experiment, I hoped that I would win the Ig Nobel. It's my dream. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable," said Tomoki Kojima, whose team put tape on Japanese beef cows and then spray-painted them with white stripes. Kojima appeared on stage in stripes and was surrounded by his fellow researchers who harassed him with cardboard flies. As a result of the paint job, fewer flies were attracted to the cows and they seemed less bothered by the flies."

Japanese researchers painted beef cows with white, zebra-like stripes and observed fewer flies and less apparent bother among the cows. Other honored studies examined pizza preferences of lizards, alcohol's occasional improvement of foreign-language speaking ability, and decades-long fingernail growth research. Winners received handmade model human stomach trophies and a single hand wipe instead of monetary prizes. The 35th Ig Nobel ceremony, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, included traditions such as the audience pelting the stage. Marc Abrahams noted that both serious and seemingly worthless discoveries can initially appear laughable.

Read at Fast Company