WEBVTT - What is an Ig Nobel Prize? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.600 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know? 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:15.480 From how stuff Works dot com? Everybody loves altoy. It's 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.520 little mints that come intense. Well, once the ments are gone, 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.400 you can do some really neat things with the left 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.480 over tense. People have made empty three players, cameras, even stoves. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.640 Check out how stuff works dot com slash tent evators 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:32.840 to find out more. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.639 I'm Josh Clark. With me is always Charles W. Chuck Bryant. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.319 You sound like you're smiling big as you are. This 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:41.720 is stuff you should know. Of course I'm smiling. Yeah, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.400 why not. We're in the We're happy chairs, Chuck. Is 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.040 it like August mid late August? August right mid August. 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.000 So you know what that means, don't you. It means 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.120 as hot as hades, and it is. It's gross, man. 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.160 It keeps, it keeps raining just long enough to soak 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.560 the ground and then boom the sun comes out and 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.760 it's muggy. Yeah, awful. Yeah, it's I actually spoken to 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:04.840 people who have lived in New Orleans and they say 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.640 that it is as bad as New Orleans. He's really yeah, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.360 I believe it, Thank you, Al Gore. Stupid global warming, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.280 but that's not what you were going to talk about anyway. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.640 I just totally sidetracked. You didn't, I yeah, but I 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.960 went with it. This is my way. So what does 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.160 August mean? August means that we are to know one 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:28.080 month and change away from the ignoble Awards. Right, not 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.959 to be confused with the Darwin Awards. No, which, Chuck. 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.720 How many people sent us when we did that spontaneous 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.440 human combustion? Sent us that Darwin Award clip of that 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.920 that Indian man on top of the train, Yeah, getting electrocuted. Yeah, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.160 it was very distressing, it is. And only about half 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.560 of those said be warned what you're about to watch. 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.000 The others were like, check this out, Kentucky Fried dude. Yeah, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.640 normally like I don't like watching people die, but that one, 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.000 I don't know. I thought it was kind of interesting, distressing. Sure, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.680 So was he a dar Win Award winner? Yeah? I 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.880 can't remember what four, but he was definitely an award winner. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.320 The Darwin Awards are a different deal. Those those people 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.639 are generally chided for stupidity and the IG Nobel Prize 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.959 winners are not made fun of. Plus, the Ignoble Awards 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:21.320 actually recognize honest to goodness, genuine scientific research, left of 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.600 center scientific research a little bit, but scientific research nonetheless. 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:29.120 So the Ignoble Awards are coming up. As I said 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.840 October one, they're actually going to have a live webcast 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.400 this year, really, yeah, beginning at seven fifteen Eastern Standard time, 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:39.919 and I imagine you'll be able to find the webcast 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.960 or at least a link to it on Improbable research 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.360 dot com. Right. Well, NPR every year broadcasts at um 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.360 the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year it's the day before Thanksgiving, 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.320 I believe, so we'll look at you. Yeah, but if 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:55.799 you don't want to wait and you want to see 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.720 it live as it happens, yeah, Friday November, the day 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.200 after Thanksgiving. So what are these, dude? We should go 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.919 ahead and tell people it's a riff on two things 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:10.000 on the Nobel Prize and the word ignoble, which means 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.760 of low character or inferior quality. Right, And I have 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.040 to say that Mark Abrams, the guy who is the 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.480 editor of Improbable Research, which is a scientific humor magazine. 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.200 Now it's a website. Um, he kind of does a 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.360 little fancy footwork here there. What do you mean, well, 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.919 he says that they're they're not. Yeah, He's like, we're 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.160 not making fun of people, but we're making fun of people. 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.160 But because of the Ignoble Prize, Right, he's saying, like, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:42.720 this is actually the too spark curiosity and science, but 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:49.200 we're celebrating research that shouldn't be replicated or reproduced. He's 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:50.800 kind of all over the place. He wants to have 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:52.560 his cake and eat it too. A little bit he does, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.520 and boy, how he does he? Ever, since I think 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:59.840 they've done, They've handed out Ignoble prizes for all sorts 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.440 of stuff, and uh, it's I like it. I think 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.680 it's fun, sure, and most people do take it lightheartedly. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.840 I have a very famous case that I can go 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.720 into later on that someone who did not take it 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.680 very lightheartedly. But it's meant to be very humorous. And 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.320 if you look at some of the the award winners 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.600 every year, you can see why. So each year they 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:25.040 give a prize out for in ten different categories, right, yes, 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.680 you let me go through those might as well. Those categories, 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:37.440 Josh are nutrition, peace, archaeology, biology, medicine, cognitive science, economics, physics, chemistry, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.239 and literature. And this, like I said, this is uh, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.360 this is actually legitimate research. Sometimes they're given out to 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.039 patent holders, but a lot of times also if you've 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:53.839 had a study published in a legitimate journal, you can 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.520 you're you're you're a candidate. You can be a candidate. 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.640 I think they get like five thousand nominations every year 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.160 and they sort through all of them. Right, you can 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.039 nominate yourself, right, and the study what the study doesn't 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.200 have to have been done in the year that the 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.640 prizes are given out. Yeah. Actually, chuck um back in 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.599 some researchers UM at right Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:25.600 We're working on a project that UM they entitled Harassing, Annoying, 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:30.080 and bad guy identifying chemicals, right, and they saw seven 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.680 point five million dollars for research grants. Is a real deal, 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.359 it is. I've actually seen that the documents from the 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.280 Air Force UM and basically what they were coming up 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.080 with was a non lethal project of UM, you know 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.239 chemicals that one of them was her basically a chemical 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.440 that would they would launch behind enemy lines and it 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.400 would arouse the ire of uh stinging insects in the area, 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.440 so they go and attack the the enemy. Another one 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:05.919 was to uh create I think chronic or prolonged halitosis 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.840 among enemy soldiers so they couldn't stand to be around 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.159 one another. And then there was the one that got 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:17.280 the Ignobell, the infamous gay bomb. Yes, it says that, um, 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:22.280 this is under the category I'm sorry category three chemicals 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.760 chemicals that affect human behavior, so that discipline and morale 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.359 in enemy units is adversely affected. One distasteful but completely 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.320 non lethal example would be strong effrodgiacs, especially if the 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:41.039 chemical also caused homosexual behavior. So yeah, the the the 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.400 Air Force was working on a gay bomb. How much 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.279 money did they put towards this? Well, hold on it 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.240 one the two thousand and seven Ignobell Peace Prize, the 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:54.279 prize how much money seven point five million, and that 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.960 don't know, you know what exactly what exactly came of it? 0:06:58.080 --> 0:06:59.960 And the Air Force didn't take kindly to this, correct, 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.440 they kind of they did not show up to receive 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.039 the award, right, I don't think they ever had a 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.760 statement to the contrary that they were upset, But yeah, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.240 they didn't show up and say hey, thanks. This whole 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.120 gabon thing didn't work out, but thanks thanks for the props. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.880 Who judges these things? Actually, what's crazy is that some 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:22.520 Nobel Award winners, like real Nobel Award winners, serve on 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.360 the Board of Governors to decide who is going to 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.920 get an ignoble prize? Right Ena, who also has the 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:33.440 professor from Gilkins Island? No, yeah, holy Castle Johnson served 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.480 one year. Apparently they do that. They get celebrities and 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.920 certain actors and athletes to be on the panel. And 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.080 they said regular street Joe's your average Joe off the street. 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.920 They'll put them on the panel to Yeah. And it's 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.160 held at Harvard. Yeah, what used to be an m 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.560 I t announced at Harvard. They have a big ceremony 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:56.600 every year. And I think the prize laureates are able 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.200 to give a one minute acceptance speeches. All yeah. They 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.960 have little miss Hutie Poo who has to who basically 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:08.040 shouts them off stage when they start exceeding their minute. Uh. 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.640 And the criteria for little miss cutie Pooh is that 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.720 she must be an adorable eight year old with ice 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.600 water in her veins and from the Boston area. And 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.080 they're actually looking for applicants right now. So yeah, if 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.320 you're listening in Boston and you're an eight year old terror, yeah, 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.160 you might want to apply with a shrill voice. Bring it. Yeah. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.360 The the award itself, Josh, is different every year, which 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.800 is kind of cool. They have different designs each year, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.840 and one of them was the was a cereal box 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:41.520 labeled Ignoble ohs. And that actually, uh kind of leads 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.319 as a nice segue into the discussion about this one 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:51.000 guy who very famously uh derided the Ignoble Awards as 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:55.319 stifling science or at the very least, you know, um, 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:59.000 making fun of it, serious scientific, you're not happy about it. No, 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.960 Bob May, it was. Bob May was the head of 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:08.320 the Science Ministry uh in for the UK. So he 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.520 was pretty big cheese. I imagine you could put him 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.560 on par with maybe the Surgeon General or the head 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:19.920 of the um uh National Science Foundation here um. And 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.720 he came out and he wrote a letter to Improbable Research, 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.120 and he also had one published in Nature where he 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:32.640 just railed on the Ignoble organizers and improbable research. He 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.439 said not to ever award another one to anyone from England. No, 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.040 and that was kind of like, hey, thanks the people 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:42.320 who were getting the award that year had been doing research. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.640 They were from the University of East Anglia, who I 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.480 have to say is a university that produces some really 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:52.880 entertaining studies. Um, but this one was the research into 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.320 the effects or what makes soggy serial or serial saggy. 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.080 That's good research, right, Well, he don't give it to 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.120 these people, don't ever give it to another British scientist again. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.640 And actually he thought, you know he was. He had 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.440 just put the final stamp of disapproval on it. Actually 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.080 created this huge outcry in the scientific community about how 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:19.160 stuffy the British scientific and certainly not doing very much 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:24.600 to quelle. No, he wasn't. And in two thousand his 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:29.320 successor actually went no. Two thousand two actually went to 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.240 the ig Nobel Awards to basically show that hey, great 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.000 Britain's you know back on board, baby, Yeah, I think 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:41.079 science the more you can um laugh at certain things 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.160 and have fun with it the better, because you know, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.439 you want to turn other people onto science. You don't 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.440 want to turn them off by thinking that you know, 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.880 we're also stuffying uptight that we can't laugh at ourselves. 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.760 You just gave me yet another segwe speaking of turning 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:58.120 people on um. The two thousand Nobel ig Nobel Prize 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:03.960 winner for Medicine was a guy named Dr Peck van Andel. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.280 Is that a real name, Yes it is, he's Uh. 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:09.840 I think he's Dutch. Sounds like a pseudonym. He won 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.600 the two thousand You you would think it might be. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.280 He won the two thousand ig Nobel Prize for Medicine. 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:20.400 Uh for making the first m ri I video of 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.720 human reproductive organs while they're engaged in the act of coitus. 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.200 And dude, yeah, if you came, I did, and it 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:34.560 is an mri I porner. It's crazy. So basically he 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.400 had he had two people performing intercourse inside an MRI 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.480 machine for this, and uh, yeah, he has a video 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.319 of it and it's up on YouTube. Actually it's an 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.600 improbable research number one nineteen, I believe. And I should 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:53.040 probably say if you are listening, you're watching, you're you're 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.400 listening to this at work and you're about to open 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.160 another tab, you might want to take it easy, wait 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.520 till you get home. And if you're twelve, don't watch 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.960 this yet, at least don't tell your parents that it 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:05.880 was Josh and Chuck who told you about this? Right? 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.720 Should we talk about some more of these prizes? Yeah, dude, 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.800 it's time. I think Robert Lamb, who wrote this awesome 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:13.520 piece of work, probably had a lot of fun with 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.600 this one. He wrote that. Um. In two thousand three, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.960 Keys W. Mulliker did a study on the existence of 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:26.559 homosexual necrophiliac ducks. And this is all real. Yeah it 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.800 actually the study led to dead duck Day in the Netherlands. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:34.679 Now really, well, it's funny you should say the Netherlands, 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.600 because there was one in New Zealand about exploding pants 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.360 among New Zealand farmers in the nine thirties. Someone studied 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.240 that too. Yeah, what was up with that? I have 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.600 no idea. I didn't I didn't see the final outcome. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.520 I I went on the improbable research and found some 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:54.800 other winner's chuck. Um. There's some pretty wacky stuff out there. 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:56.360 At the very least, I mean, you have to think 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:01.160 about it. When somebody undertakes this this a study, they're 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.199 very serious about it. They want to get to the 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.760 bottom of it. And obviously if you look at it 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.439 like the gay bomb, they didn't say the gay bomb. Plus, 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:12.000 you know, arousing steam bees and there's legitimate research associated 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.559 with it's the gay bomb. They're picking out the funniest 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.520 angle of looking at this, but there is some legitimate 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.839 There is very much legitimate research put into this, and 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.680 you have to imagine it's funding for this research. Somebody 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:30.080 said Okay, yeah, go check out necrophiliac homosexual ducks and 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.920 then it's published. Yeah, usually in a medical journal. I 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.640 have one from last year that was pretty funny in 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.600 the field of chemistry. Um Sherry and Pierre Joseph Hill 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.439 and Deborah Anderson discovered that coca cola is an effective 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:49.320 spermicide and see why Hong c c she pe Wu 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.840 and b and Chiang accidentally proved that it is not 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.560 an effective spermacide in the same year. So they were 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.559 both award the award for chemistry, which I thought was 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.280 pretty funny, and they all showed up to receive it. Yeah, 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.360 both sides of the studies. Um. I think it was 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.440 last year, Chuck that uh Ivan are Schwab and Philip 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.839 are A may Um won the prize for ornithology. What 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:19.720 was that they researched Why woodpeckers don't get headaches really 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:22.600 or why they give people headaches is what I would 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:27.160 follow up with No, uh, last year and nutrition. This 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.000 one I thought was pretty funny. Brian Wantsink investigated people's 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:35.080 appetite for mindless eating, and his trick was he had 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.520 a self refilling bowl of soup in front of them 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.200 that they didn't realize was constantly refilling itself. He would 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:43.840 study if they would just keep on eating and eating 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.160 without thinking about it. Awesome. I could go for a 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.560 self refilling bowl of soup. Really yeah, depending on the 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:55.560 soup loaded baked potato definitely. Um, I've got one. You're ready. Yeah. 0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:00.160 The Ignoble Prize for Mathematics in a two thousand in 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:05.280 seven UM went to nick's Vence Venson and Piers Barnes 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:10.040 of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization. They calculated 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.680 the number of photographs you have to take to ensure 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.400 that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.680 Do you have the stat No? I don't, But if 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.000 you want the stat you can read the June two 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.680 thousand and six issue of Velocity and the articles called 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.080 blink free Photos Guaranteed. I've got one for you too. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:29.880 We could do this all day, we could, but this 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:34.160 one is actually could be real have real applications in aviation. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.120 They discovered that hamsters recover from jet lag more quickly 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.440 when given viagra, So there might be something to that 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.720 jet lags, you know, a problem for some people, and 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.120 maybe something in the viagra could actually help humans because 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.120 rats and hamsters and humans all kind of are wired 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.720 the same. Well. I don't know if it's groundbaracking research 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.680 as much as it is, you know, just proving conventional wisdom. 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.760 You know, Well, do you think so with viagra? Everybody 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:03.440 knows viagra? Here's jet lagging rodents? Okay, sorry, you got 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.800 another one? I do? Can you tell by the look 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.560 on my face? Yeah, you were gasping. Two thousand and seven, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.640 the Medicine Prize went to some researchers from the University 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:17.040 of Tennessee College of Medicine. They did some research into 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:26.560 terminating hiccups by digital rectal massage and digital in this case. Okay, yeah, 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.240 I was out. You know, that's funny. I read that earlier. 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.960 I was like, how can you get a digital rectal massage? 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.920 I was thinking digitizing, all right, I wasn't thinking fingers. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.280 That makes sense. Do you got any more you want 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.000 to do another couple. Actually there was one what the 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.080 guy who studied strippers and found that strippers get more 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.360 tips when they're ovulating. Yeah, they won the Economics Prize 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.440 last year. I thought that was pretty pretty interesting. So 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:51.360 in essence, it's a lot of fun. You know, they're 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.320 they're kind of poking fun, but it is some legitimate 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.720 research going on, and I just think it's a good time. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.200 I agree. And if you're interested in checking it out out, 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.920 as I said, the ig Noo Bell Prizes are gonna 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.200 be on there's gonna be a live webcast at seven 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.480 fifteen Eastern on October one if you want to find 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.240 out who ends up being miss Cutie Poo for two 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:18.640 thousand nine in a wig, eight year old, steely cold. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.200 I could hear it. Yeah, so Chuck. I guess that's 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:22.760 it right. If you want to read this, I have 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.920 to say, you said, Robert Lamb wrote a great article. 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:26.879 I agreed. I think this article has one of the 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.600 best introductions on the site. It's a good one. You 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.560 can find that by typing in EIGG and then space 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.399 and Nobel on the handy search bar on how stuff 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.919 works dot com. And since I said that, that means 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.960 my friends that it is time for listener may all. Yes, indeed, Josh, 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.840 I'm just gonna call this answer to our query about 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:53.080 the biggest badass of World War two. Yes, Chuck, I'm 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.639 very excited about this one. We got a lot of 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.000 respond section. We called it, if you remember correctly, just 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.960 to recap, we did a thing on jaff any stragglers. Wait, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.479 let's go to the way back machine and listen to 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:10.320 what we said in contrast to u COI was the 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.840 baddest dude in World War two. Probably as a matter 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.000 of fact, I invite our listeners to email us by 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.920 anybody who can who want, any single individual who can 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:26.399 top the man we're about to talk about as in badness. Okay, 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.800 I agree, and Josh will personally email you back and 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:33.960 debate you. And there it is. So. We we posited 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.879 the Onada was one of the biggest uh rambos of 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.159 the war, and we challenge people sendance went bad and 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.440 people did. Yeah, we got a lot of responses. Yeah, 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:48.000 but there was one that had overwhelming uh support. There 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:49.640 was there are actually a couple we want to give 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.040 a special uh uh. I guess you would call it 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.879 a runner up to Audie Murphy. Yeah, famous American actor 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:02.400 and soldier. Yeah, baby face like a buck. But yeah, 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.120 I started shooting at him. He went crazy and he 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.359 was awesome and he was super bad. But I think 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.440 he gets a little attention because he was a real 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.000 small guy and he was American, and he was American. 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.720 He had like such a chairb base like people think, wow, man, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.679 he's extra bad because he was tough and he's a 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.880 little We got some boats. There was some British guy 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.960 that was pretty bad. Another couple of Japanese dudes. But 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.120 wait what you got another one? But we have a winner, Yes, 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:32.840 clear winner. This guy is so bad. This is uh 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:38.640 semo hia Hija. The nickname for him was white Death. Yes. 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.360 Can I tell this guy's story please? All right? So 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:46.000 he was a Finnish farmer and he um was just 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.600 basically doing his own thing when the Russians invaded Finland 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.120 the Winter War. Yes, he didn't like this one bit. 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.400 So basically he took a standard bolt action rifle without 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.000 a sight. Yeah, no no head site, no scope, no 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.400 scope sorry yeah uh and went out into the woods, 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.639 the sub arctic woods of Finland, where it gets to 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.680 about forty degrees below fahrenheight and just basically sat up 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.800 in trees or in blinds and waited. And he didn't 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.000 have to wait very long. Over the course of one year, 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:22.000 just using this old rifle, he killed five hundred Russians, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.200 five hundred and five as a sniper. As a sniper, 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.439 a lot of these people. When the Russians were finally 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.680 alerted that there was one sniper out there there was 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.359 causing them all these problems, they sent detachments with the 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.600 specific mission of going to kill him. Find the White Death. Yeah, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.959 that's when he got the name the White Death. So 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.840 they send, they send detachment after detachment out and he 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.440 just murders every single one of them too. He killed 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.040 two hundred people with a submachine gun, so that would, 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:50.600 I guess would be like the close up fight. So 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.440 seven hundred and five seven five confirmed kills in a year. 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.879 Finally somebody gets close enough to him to shoot him 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.480 in the face with an explode name pullet, and it 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.240 still didn't kill him. Yep, he was shot in the jaw. 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.920 Rumor has it that he shot the other sniper before 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.080 losing consciousness, So the guy that just shot him before 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:15.119 he passed out, he killed him immediate retribution. And the 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.959 guy who wrote in with the best email says, unofficially 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.000 he had over eight hundred kills and this was an 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.600 under one hundred days. It was less than a year. Wow. 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.520 So he said it was just a killing machine. Think 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.240 about it. That is at least five kills per day 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.240 plus two hundred kills with the World War two submachine gun. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.879 And he still didn't die. You know, he lost consciousness 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.960 and woke up apparently the day World War two ended. Yeah, 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.639 and he lived until So I think the White Death 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.679 I'm gonna vote for him. Oh, hands down. He is 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:47.240 the biggest badass of World War Two. Yeah, although some 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:48.879 people are going to write in and say, yeah, but 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:51.560 this was sniper stuff and Autie Murphy fought people with 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.080 like a knife. And I gotta tell you, Autie Murphy 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.800 is to me a very close second. But the White Death, 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:01.119 first of all, alone forty degree, he's below fahrenheight just 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:04.400 sitting out there sniping Russians. I mean, I think he's 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:06.560 I think he wins the award in my opinion. He does. 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:08.560 So I want to give credit where credit is due here. 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.359 We want to thank carson Um from Toronto. Actually it's 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.760 a joke. I'm making a joke. He's actually from Edmonton 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:18.520 and he said please don't say him from Toronto. And 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.040 he also said something about eating heaven euros and mentioning 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:23.320 that so his friends would know it's really him. Okay, 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:28.119 so Carson, we've done so. So Carson from Edmonton, Timman 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.760 in New York City, Devon from Georgia, and Adrian all 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.359 wrote in with White Death and I think they're actually 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.440 more stuff I left you off. Yeah, I know they're definitely, 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.640 don't snipe me. And also there's a really cool uh 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:47.040 article craft dot com about Rambo or basically actual life 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:52.439 soldiers who Rambo looked like something or other. Yeah, um, 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.400 that was worth reading. And if you want to send 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.520 us an email about anything at all, White Death or otherwise, 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:00.920 you can send that to stuff pod cats at how 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:08.360 stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.840 of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Want 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:14.520 more how stuff works, check out our blogs on the 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:19.840 house stuff works dot com home page. Hey, if you're 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.280 a fan of altoids the curiously strong Mints, you probably 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:25.480 have a lot of empty tins laying around. You can 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:27.560