An algorithm to know when to lie, among the IG Nobel Prizes 2022

Sep. 16 () –

An algorithm to help decide when to tell the truth or lie, or the physics that helps ducklings swim in formation are among the studies awarded with the IG Nobel 2022.

Failed in its 32nd edition this September 15 by the editors of Annals of Improbable Research, a science humor magazinethe IG Nobel Prizes are based on research with hilarious titles and descriptions, published in some cases with humorous intent, but not in other cases.

One study was distinguished, in the Applied Cardiology category, for searching and finding evidence that when a new romantic partner first meets and is attracted to one another, their heart rhythms sync up. It was published in Nature Human Behaviour.

The Literature award went to researchers who looked at what makes legal documents unnecessarily difficult to understand, a paper published in the journal Cognition.

The distinction in Biology was for a paper focused on studying whether and how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions, published in Integrative Zoology.

The Medicine award went to research aimed at showing that when patients undergo some forms of toxic chemotherapy, they experience fewer harmful side effects when ice cream replaces a traditional component of the procedure. It was published in ScientificReports.

There was also an Engineering Award for a study that tried to discover the most efficient way for people to use their fingers when turning a knob. It was published in Bulletin of the Japan Society for Design Science.

The Art History distinction went to the study entitled “A multidisciplinary approach to ritual enema scenes in ancient Maya pottery,” published in Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

The Physics prize went to a group of scientists for trying to understand how ducklings manage to swim in formation, which was published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

The Peace Prize was for developing an algorithm to help gossips decide when to tell the truth and when to lie, a paper appeared on Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

The Economics award distinguished a study that tried to explain, mathematically, why success is often not for the most talented people, but for the luckiest, published in Advances in Complex Systems.

Finally, a Safety Engineering award was given to a scientist who developed a specific moose crash test dummy, published by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute.