FOR 35 years the Ig Nobel prizes—given for “research that makes people laugh, then think”—have been awarded at a madcap ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The “laugh” part highlights the sillier side of science; the “think” part reveals the same creative inquiry that drives the more dour-seeming side. Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”, speaks to the prizes’ founder and past winners about the grave reasons the ceremony is moving this year to Zurich.

Topics covered:

• Ig Nobel prizes
• Nobel prizes
• scientific inquiry
• American science policy

Guests:

• Marc Abrahams, founder, Ig Nobel prizes
• Marie Dacke, professor of sensory biology, Lund University
• Sir Andre Geim, professor of physics, University of Manchester
• David Kaiser, professor of physics and professor of the history of science, MIT
• Luca Luiselli, president, Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Co-operation

Links to other episodes:

• The Weekend Intelligence: Science under siege
• The Weekend Intelligence: The War on Animal Research

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