When curiosity does not kill the cat

Why does a banana peel prompt a comical slip? Why does the zebra alone wear black stripes? Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches? Why does toast land butter-side down by the time it hits the floor? These amusing observations spark playful curiosity that makes people laugh first and think later. And there is no shortage of such cases worth noticing.

This principle of laughing first and thinking later resonated with Marc Abrahams, who firmly believes that science can be serious and ridiculous at the same time. To cultivate a culture of playful scepticism and attentive inquiry that blends humour with academic rigour, Abrahams instituted the Ig Nobel Prizes in 1999. The ‘Ig Nobel’ stands as an antithesis to the idea that science must always be serious and sombre.

These prizes spotlight the absurdities of human endeavour without mocking the science embedded within them. Instead, they celebrate science’s quirks, its questions and its capacity to illuminate the edges of human understanding. The Ig Nobels draw attention to work that might otherwise have been ignored forever.

That is true of the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize in Ornithology awarded to Ivan R Schwab and the late Philip May. As early as 1976, May argued that woodpeckers were nature’s living experiment in preventing head injuries. But it took three decades before the value of the woodpecker’s headstrong resilience, in resisting brain injury, was recognised as an engineering insight hidden within an evolutionary mystery.

Following years of research in pursuit of the Ig Nobels, science writer Upasana Sarraju has assembled a thoughtful and reflective compilation on weird science and the scientists whose curiosity nudged them towards the coveted prize, disproving the proverbial claim that curiosity killed the cat. Through twelve unusual stories, she presents extraordinary scientists in search of science. These achievements possess a curious quality, celebrating the enjoyable side of science while enticing readers to become interested in it.

Each prize justifies itself by being funny and radical at once. In 2012, an Ig Nobel Prize was awarded to a team of researchers for studying the dynamics of coffee spilling from a cup while walking. Beneath the humour lay close attention to walking speeds and the quantity of coffee in the cup. The interplay between the complex motion of the cup, the biomechanics of walking and low-viscosity liquid dynamics came under scientific scrutiny. One may wonder about its direct implications, yet such studies deepen our understanding of fluid behaviour under changing conditions.

The surprising slipperiness of a banana peel may seem frivolous as a scientific inquiry. Still, the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics opened discussions about designing safer flooring materials, particularly in public spaces such as hospitals and shopping centres.

Across eleven chapters, Sarraju explores strange corners of inquiry through the work selected by Ig Nobel winners and curators, presenting science that is cool, interesting and real. These inimitable prizes are windows into the strange, wonderful and occasionally hilarious world of asking questions simply because they exist.

Weird yet ordered, predictable yet laughable, discovery itself is a thrill. The safest way to transport rhinos is by lifting them upside down. It sounds like a wild joke, but it turns out to be true. The same may even apply to transporting pigs. What does this mean? It means the world is full of scientists who are funny, odd and endlessly curious. It also reminds us that scientists can be eccentric, mischievous and deeply weird.

Written with delightful insight and enthusiasm, Sarraju explores what lies at the heart of scientific discovery. She shows how laughable beginnings can evolve into ideas that change the world. Each award is first encountered as an odd idea before becoming a concept for deeper exploration. In doing so, the author leaves readers with questions of their own. For instance, open the smelliest thing in your fridge and reflect. Does your brain light up with disgust, hunger or a primal urge to throw it far away?

Ultimately, our ability to imagine and seek out stranger realities may yet carry us towards an extraordinary future.