Ig Nobel prizes 2022: The unlikely science that won this year’s awards

From how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions to an analysis of what makes legal documents unnecessarily difficult to understand, this year’s Ig Nobel prizes, for “achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think”, are unveiled

The best (and also the non-best) science can make people laugh, then think, and every year the Ig Nobel prizes serve up some glittering specimens of this. The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony – entirely online again, thanks to the pandemic – has given us this year’s new winners and, as per tradition, Feedback regifts them to you.

Surfing ducklings

There is subtle mystery in the way ducklings manage to swim in formation. Frank Fish, who is a biologist and a …