Magnetized Cockroaches, Cancer-Fighting Pizza and More: Winners of the 2019 Ig Nobel Prizes

A list of the most absurd and ridiculous scientific discoveries.

The 29th ceremony of the parody Ig Nobel Prizes was held at Harvard.  The prizes are usually awarded in early October "for achievements that make people laugh, and then think". The list of winners has been published on the website of the prize.  

So who received the award in 2019?

1. Medicine: an Italian scientist who proved that pizza cooked and eaten in Italy can protect against cancer
2. Medical Education: scientists from the United States for a simple technique of training surgeons using sounds to train animals
   
3. Biology: an international group of researchers from Singapore, China, Australia, Poland, the United States and Bulgaria. The scientists proved that magnetized dead cockroaches retain magnetic properties longer than live ones
   
4. Anatomy: French researchers for measuring the temperature asymmetry of the scrotum in naked and clothed postmen
   
5. Chemistry: Japanese researchers who determined how much saliva a typical five-year-old child produces per day. It is roughly half a liter
6. Engineering: an Iranian scientist who invented a machine for changing children's diapers
   
7. Economics: scientists from Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany who determined which country's paper money best carries dangerous bacteria. By the way, these are Romanian banknotes
   
8. Peace Prize: scientists from Britain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United States — for measuring the pleasure of scratching an itch
   
9. Psychology: a German researcher who studied whether a person holding a pen in their mouth becomes happier
   
10. Physics: scientists from the United States, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Great Britain — for studying how and why wombats leave cube-shaped droppings
    

All winners receive 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars in a single banknote, which equals 40 US cents.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, preparations are underway for the local development forum.