Cockroach milk, candy theft and buried underwear: Why scientists won the 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

The awards were presented on September 3 at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. It was the first ceremony held outside the United States.

The chemistry prize went to an international team that discovered protein crystals produced by the viviparous cockroach Diploptera punctata contain three times as much energy as cow's milk proteins.

Japan's late researcher Tokuji Unno was posthumously awarded the medicine prize for an aerodynamic study examining how people blow their noses. His colleague Miki Takahara accepted the award on his behalf.

The biomechanics prize was presented to Matilda Brindle, Catherine Talbot and Stuart West for developing a more precise scientific definition of kissing. Their research compared the behavior in ants, birds, polar bears and humans.

The economics prize honored Paul Piff, Daniel Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton and Dacher Keltner. Their experiments suggested that upper-class individuals were more likely to engage in unethical behavior, including taking sweets intended for children.

In biology, researchers were recognized for repeatedly and gently stepping on different parts of venomous snakes at varying temperatures and times of day to determine what makes the reptiles bite. The scientists wore protective boots while working with 116 jararaca pit vipers. The study was later retracted over concerns related to its animal research.

The physics prize went to researchers who used experiments, mathematical modeling and differential equations in an attempt to design a splash-free urinal.

A team from China, Canada, the United States and Egypt received the technology prize for using mosquito proboscises as high-resolution 3D-printing nozzles. The technique was dubbed "necroprinting."

Researchers also won the olfaction prize after finding that parents tend to describe the smell of babies as pleasant, while teenagers receive considerably less favorable reviews.

The peace prize recognized a study showing that people appreciate friends who behave viciously toward those they themselves dislike.

Meanwhile, the soil science prize went to Franz Bender, Marcel van der Heijden, Atlant Bieri and Pia Viviani. The researchers buried 1,000 identical pairs of cotton underpants in more than 25 countries and dug them up two months later to assess soil health by the extent of the fabric's decomposition.

The ceremony was attended by around 1,500 people, who followed tradition by showering the stage with paper airplanes. Nobel laureates Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee, Michel Mayor and Tim Hunt presented the prizes to the winners.

Established in 1991 and organized by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the Ig Nobel Prize honors achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that U.S. President Donald Trump linked his failure to receive the Nobel Peace Prize to his position on Greenland in a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.