Gossip, Enemas and Matchmaking: Three Dutch Scientists Win Ig Nobel Prizes

Mayan jar.Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Three Dutch scientists have been honored with this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes. The award is the name given to an annual parody award given to scientific achievements that “make people laugh and make them think”.

Mariska Klett from Leiden University was one of the team that won the Applied Cardiology Prize. found the evidence When new couples meet on a blind date and are attracted to each other, their heartbeats synchronize.

“I was very happy to hear the news,” said the professor, who has done some research at festivals such as Rowlands. volksland“I know some previous Dutch winners and they got a lot of attention.”

Retired Professor Peter de Smet and colleague Nicholas Hermuth have been awarded the Art History Prize. their research showed that Ancient Mayans used enemas to get highThis research actually dates back to 1986.

VU University social psychologist Paul Van Lange was part of the team that won the Ig Nobel Prize for Peace. Algorithm development To help gossipers decide when to tell the truth and when to lie.

“I love my job, so whatever you say about the award itself, we’re talking about it now. And that’s what I like,” he told Volkskrant.

Previous Dutch winners include researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, who won physics’ top prize last year for studying how to avoid bumping people in crowds. Awarded.

And in 2020, a team of Dutch-Belgian scientists won the Ig Nobel Prize for diagnosing a disorder that causes them to see red when they hear other people chew, snore or sneeze. was awarded.