2003 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

   The Nobel Foundation is in the process of making the Nobel Prize
   Announcements for 2003.  For details see the Nobel e-Museum:
      < http://www.nobel.se/ >

   This post is about the announcement of the winners of the less
   well-known Ig Nobel Prizes for 2003.

   * What are the Ig Nobel Prizes?
      < http://www.improb.com/ig/what-are.html >

   * This year's winners
      < http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2003 >

   A selection:
     + PHYSICS
   Jack Harvey, John Culvenor, Warren Payne, Steve Cowley, Michael Lawrance,
   David Stuart, and Robyn Williams of Australia, for their irresistible
   report "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various
   Surfaces."
     + MEDICINE
   Eleanor Maguire, David Gadian, Ingrid Johnsrude, Catriona Good, John
   Ashburner, Richard Frackowiak, and Christopher Frith of University College
   London, for presenting evidence that the brains of London taxi drivers are
   more highly developed than those of their fellow citizens.
     + PSYCHOLOGY
   Gian Vittorio Caprara and Claudio Barbaranelli of the University of Rome,
   and Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, for their discerning report
   "Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities."
     + LITERATURE
   John Trinkaus, of the Zicklin School of Business, New York City, for
   meticulously collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic
   reports about specific annoyances and anomalies of daily life, such as:
   What percentage of young people wear baseball caps with the peak facing
   to the rear rather than to the front; What percentage of pedestrians wear
   sport shoes that are white rather than some other color; What percentage
   of swimmers swim laps in the shallow end of a pool rather than the deep
   end; What percentage of automobile drivers almost, but not completely, come
   to a stop at one particular stop-sign; What percentage of commuters carry
   attaché cases; What percentage of shoppers exceed the number of items
   permitted in a supermarket's express checkout lane; and What percentage
   of students dislike the taste of Brussels sprouts.
     + ECONOMICS
   Karl Schwärzler and the nation of Liechtenstein, for making it possible to
   rent the entire country for corporate conventions, weddings, bar mitzvahs,
   and other gatherings.

   The rest of the HotAIR/www.improb.com has other amusing stuff too.