They are very serious and are the subject of publications in the most important scientific journals. But these studies, carried out by renowned researchers, make “laugh and then think”.
To distinguish this extraordinary work, the Ig-Nobel rewards every year, a few days before the official Nobel Prize ceremony, personalities who advance science in their own way.
This year, Milo Puhan won the timpani. This professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Zurich was distinguished for having shown that regularly playing the didgeridoo had a positive effect on pathological snoring.
Originally used by Aborigines, this instrument is similar to a long wooden trumpet into which the person blows to accompany a singer and a dancer during solemn ceremonies.
With his colleague Otto Brändli, he published the results of his work in the British Medical Journal in 2005. The 50 patients suffering from sleep apnea were divided into two groups and followed for four months. In the first, people had to play the didgeridoo regularly; in the other, no particular constraint was imposed.
The analyzes showed that the sleep apnea syndrome had decreased in the group of musicians and that they were less tired during the day. “Upper airway muscles are less developed in people with sleep apnea,” the journal explains. 20 minutes. Playing the didgeridoo allows you to strengthen this musculature.
It was by meeting a didgeridoo teacher that the Swiss researcher decided to conduct his research. “Ultimately, it was a combination of curiosity and risk-taking that drove us to do this study. And that is exactly what the Ig-Nobel honors”.
Since 1991, this prize has been awarded by the scientific-humorous magazine Annals of Improbable Research. The fact that a winner of the Ig-Nobel Prize in 2000 won the real Nobel Prize in 2010 (1) undoubtedly helped his reputation, proudly comments Milo Puhan.
(1) André Geim
