How one doctor studied his fingernails for 35 years – and won a prize for it

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By Marc Abrahams

From the decades-long study of nail growth to the decongesting effects of orgasms, prize-winning medical research looks a bit different when the awards are the Ig Nobels. Prize founder Marc Abrahams reflects on the celebration of the kind of science that makes you laugh, then think.

Of the many prizes given for surprising discoveries and innovations in medicine, one set of prizes stands out because of its very surprisingness. These are the Ig Nobel Prizes. Among its many winners one finds:

The late Dr. William B. Bean, for persistently recording and analysing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years.

Silvano Gallus, for collecting evidence that pizza might protect against illness and death, if the pizza is made and eaten in Italy.

Ryo Okabe and colleagues, for discovering that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus.

Christine Pham and colleagues, for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils.