The Ig Nobel Awards UK Tour
In Association with the Newcastle Science Festival
Friday 14 March 2008, 6pm
Life Conference and Banqueting
The Ig Nobel Prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative - and stimulate people's interest in science, medicine and technology. The Centre for Life is proud to showcase the work of Ig Nobel laureates on the evening of Friday 14 March 2008.
Inspired by the Nobel Prize, the Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded annually to scientists for research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. Each year, Ig Nobel laureates present their work to audiences in the UK. Speakers coming to Life include: Newcastle University’s Claire Rind and Peter Simmons who shared the 2005 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for monitoring brain activity of locusts watching the film, ‘Star Wars’; and Brian Witcombe and Dan Meyer for their penetrating medical report, ‘Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects’.
The evening will include talks by:
- Marc Abrahams, organizer of the Ig Nobel Prizes, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and Guardian columnist;
- The Newcastle winners, Claire Rind & Peter Simmons who shared the 2005 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie "Star Wars";
- Jim Gundlach - co-author of the study "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide," for which he shared the 2004 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize;
- Brian Witcombe & Dan Meyer - shared the 2007 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize for their penetrating medical report "Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects";
- Kees Moeliker - curator of birds at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. He won the 2003 Ig Nobel Biology Prize for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck;
- Rob Ives - founder and chief designer at Flying Pig, maker of paper moving mechanical models, including the mechanical Flying Spaghetti Monster.
For more information or to reserve your FREE tickets, please call (0191) 243 8210 or email info@life.org.uk. Advanced booking is not required but is highly recommended as the event is likely to be very popular.
