Meet the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize winners

The Ig Nobel Prizes, a parody of the Nobel Prizes, were awarded on September 14th, 2023. The ceremony celebrated the year's most unusual and imaginative scientific achievements. Among the winners were researchers who discovered that the word "the" is the most frequently used word in the English language, and another team that found that the presence of a full moon can influence the length of a person's sleep. The event featured various entertainment elements, including miniature operas, scientific demonstrations, and the "24/7 Lectures," where winners had to deliver their acceptance speeches in just 24 seconds. The Ig Nobel Prizes aim to honor achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think." The ceremony was held at Harvard University and was attended by a global audience. The Ig Nobel Prizes are recognized for their ability to bring attention to unusual and often overlooked areas of scientific research, encouraging a more lighthearted and accessible approach to scientific discovery.