The 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced, honoring research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. This year's ceremony took place in Zurich, Switzerland — the first time it has been held outside Boston in its 35-year history, driven by concerns that international travelers were increasingly reluctant to visit the US.
Marc Abrahams, the prizes' founder and emcee, told the Associated Press that the move was necessary: During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country. The ceremony will be held in Antwerp next year and return to Zurich in even-numbered years, much like the Eurovision Song Contest.
Among the highlights: the Biomechanics prize went to researchers who defined kissing across species — non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer — covering ants, birds, polar bears, and humans. They concluded that Neanderthals likely kissed, though eastern gorillas appear to have lost the trait.
The Physics prize recognized Randy Hurd, Zhao Pan, Tadd Truscott, and Kaveeshan Thurairajah for their work on splash-free urinals. Their nautilus-shell design — dubbed the Nauti-loo — achieves the optimal 30-degree stream angle that dogs instinctively use, eliminating splashback entirely. Traditional urinals produced up to 50 times more splash.
The Technology prize honored a team that turned mosquito proboscises into high-resolution 3D printing nozzles in a process called necroprinting. The devices achieved 18–22 micron resolution — twice as fine as the smallest commercial metal dispensing tips.
Other winners: cockroach milk proteins pack three times the energy of cow's milk; 1,000 pairs of cotton underwear buried across 25 countries revealed soil health patterns; babies smell wonderful to parents but teenagers do not; upper-class people are more likely to snatch candy from children; and friends who are vicious to our enemies are valued more highly.
