Arabic version: جوائز إيغ نوبل تكرّم أبحاثاً غير مألوفة
According to ABC News, the 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes recognised research on buried underwear, friendship, animal kissing and ethical behaviour. Ten prizes were awarded at a ceremony in Zurich, marking the first time in 36 years that the annual awards were hosted outside the United States. The prizes, which play on the Nobel Prizes, celebrate research that “first makes people laugh, and then make them think”.
Australia-US dual citizen Keelah Williams, an evolutionary psychologist at Hamilton College, and her colleagues received the Ig Nobel Peace Prize for work on viciousness in friendship. Their paper found that people want friends who are kind, helpful and generous to them, while also being fiercely loyal against people they dislike. Dr Williams said the finding helps reconcile the desire for lovely friends with the appeal of friends who would act aggressively toward an ex.
The Ig Nobel Biomechanics Prize went to a US and UK team that developed a definition of kissing in animals. Their definition was “non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer”. University of Oxford evolutionary biologist Matilda Brindle said studying these behaviours has consequences for understanding reproductive strategies and human sexuality. Polar bears, prairie dogs and insects were among animals discussed in the research.
European researchers won the Soil Science Prize after enlisting 1,000 citizen scientists across more than 25 countries to bury cotton underwear to test local soil health. The underwear decomposed faster in soil with higher fertility and more nutrients. Marcel van der Heijden of the University of Zurich said the project was intended to bring soil biodiversity and soil life closer to the public. The team proposed an “underwear index” based on decomposition percentage as an accessible measure of soil health.
The Economics Prize recognised a 2012 North American study comparing the ethical behaviour of upper-class and lower-class people. Researchers reported that upper-class participants were more likely to break driving laws, lie in negotiations, cheat to win a prize and take lollies intended for children. They suggested privacy in upper-class jobs, financial resources and feelings of entitlement could contribute to unethical behaviour.
