Japanese Scientist wins Ig Nobel Prize for Panda Poop

Written By: guyjin on November 25, 2009 6 Comments

It may be old news, but Mainichi today had a story about 72 year old microbiologist Taguchi Fumiaki, who was awarded the fluffy (well, foam) dice trophy for the annual Ig Nobel Prize, as announced at the 19th annual ceremony at Harvard on October 1. The Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded every year by the Annals of Improbable Research to celebrate research that makes people laugh and think.

Taguchi received his award in honor of his research into the use of panda poop… He had originally attempted to produce hydrogen as an energy source by using bacteria to decompose raw garbage. He found that using the bacteria in panda feces (30 kgs were collected from Ueno Zoo for the experiments) he was able to reduce kitchen waste in mass by more than 90%. The study was carried out together with Chinese students at his university, who also shared in the prize.

According to Mainichi, Taguchi said of the award that:

“I didn’t know about the prize. My wife even said it might be a fraud. I heard some people complain that the prizes are a bad joke, but I’m honestly flattered… The ceremony was full of entertainment, which allows attendees to enjoy science. But I think its an event that would be difficult for the overly serious Japanese to copy”.

The award ceremony had an audience of some 1500 people, including Nobel laureates, and was followed two days later by a series of informal lectures where winners explained their work. Some of the other notable winners included:

Dr. Elena Bodnar, Public Health Prize winner for her invention of a bra that can be converted into a protective face mask in case of an emergency…
Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson, Veterinary Medicine Prize winners for showing that cows with names give more milk than cows that are nameless…
Stephan Bolliger and his team, Peace Prize winners for determining – by experiment – whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or an empty one…
Four Icelandic banks, Economics Prize winners for demonstrating how tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks… and vice versa – and for demonstrating that the same thing can be done to an entire national economy…

More prizes, including the awards for Literature, Mathematics, Physics and Medicine can be seen at the Improbable Research website.