Every year, to go along with the Oscars award ceremony, there’s a mock award ceremony for the best of the worst - the Razzies.  It’s a salute to the worst Hollywood has to offer.

Well, don’t for one second think the tech world doesn’t have their own version of the Razzies.  This week, the Nobel prizes are being awarded.  But just last week, the Ig Nobel prizes were handed out.

The name igNobel is a play on words for the name “ignoble” - meaning not noble.  These awards “celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative, and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology”.

Here’s a glimpse at the winners this year:

A California doctor won the Ig Nobel medicine prize for a “first-hand research study” into arthritis in fingers.  So, lots of people say cracking your knuckles will lead to arthritis right?  Well, this guy put that theory to the test.  He cracked the knuckles of his left hand - but not his right - every day for more than 60 years.  The result?  No arthritis in either hand.  What did he learn?  That other parental beliefs like the importance of eating spinach could also be flawed, and they need more investigation.

A veterinary-medicine Ig Nobel prize was handed out.  Researchers at a UK university won this one for their work showing farmers can benefit from improved relationship with their cows.  Apparently their study proved that if you name their cows and routinely call them by those names, they will yield over 250 litres more milk than if you don’t.

The Ig Nobel prize for biology went to a Japanese team who were able to show the benefits of panda poo in your day to day life.  Their study showed kitchen refuse can be reduced by more than 90 percent in mass by using bacteria extracted from the feces of giant pandas.  That’s one experiment I’m SO glad I had nothing to do with!!!

The Ig Nobel prize for public health gets my vote for the weirdest winner ever… a team of inventors received a patent for a bra… but this bra can be converted into a pair of gas masks.  Seriously, who THINKS of these things??

One more to share… the Ig Nobel peace prize goes to a team in Switzerland for their work in bar room brawl-related research.  A panel of doctors were asked whether a skull can be broken by smashing a beer bottle on someone’s head.  And whether that task can more easily be accomplished with a full or empty bottle.  You know what?  I’m not even going to tell you the answer.  How about no smashing beer bottles on anyone’s head… period.  That sounds like a much better idea.