By Mark Pratt - The Associated Press
Not only are beards modern and trendy, but they could also be an evolutionary development that helps protect a man's facial bones if he receives a blow to the face.
This is the conclusion of a trio of scientists from the University of Utah who are among the winners of this year's Ig Nobel prizes, the parodies of the Nobel prizes that honor or, for some, dishonor, the strangest scientific discoveries.
Among the winners of the 31st edition, which were announced Thursday, are researchers who have discovered how to better control cockroaches on Navy submarines;
a report by animal scientists who have studied whether it is safer to carry a rhino in the air upside down;
and a team that has discovered in detail how disgusting that street gum that sticks to shoes is.
[They discover a 1,500-year-old couple in an embrace of "eternal love." But his death could be chilling]
For the second year in a row, the ceremony was virtual and prerecorded due to the pandemic, explained Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research magazine, the event's main sponsor.
Although disappointing in many ways, because half the fun of a live ceremony is audience participation, the ceremony upheld many traditions in person.
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Among them, the announcement of the prizes by real Nobel laureates and the world premiere of a mini-opera called
A Bridge Between People
, about children who literally build small suspension bridges to unite two angry adults.
For the study on the beard, published in the scientific journal Integrative Organismal Biology, there were no real faces to hit.
["People were terrified." Why are the so-called earthquake lights that took many by surprise in Mexico City]
Instead, University of Utah scientists Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier used an epoxy fiber composite to simulate human bone, and sheepskin to emulate human skin, some pieces had fur and some were sheared. .
Then they dropped weights.
The piece with the wool attached absorbed more energy than the peeled samples.
"If the same is true for human facial hair, then having a full beard can help protect vulnerable regions of the facial skeleton, such as the jaw, from damaging bumps," they said.
Chewing gums full of bacteria
Obviously the discarded gum found on the sidewalks around the world
is pretty disgusting.
But to what extent?
Researchers at a Spanish university determined that chewed gum that has been stuck to the sidewalk for three months is full of nasty bacteria.
It sounds like a silly study, but, as always, there was some method to the madness.
"Our findings have implications for a wide range of disciplines, such as forensic medicine
, the control of contagious diseases or the bioremediation of wasted gum waste," wrote Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Angela Vidal Verdú and Manuel Porcar, from the University of Valencia, in his article, published on Nature.com.
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A team of Navy researchers won by discovering a cheaper and more effective way to control cockroaches on submarines.
The 1971 study, which appeared in the Journal of Economic Entomology, found that traditional methods, such as carboxyide fumigation and the use of the pesticide malathion, weren't good enough.
They found that the use of the pesticide dichlorvos was less expensive and more effective.