Late Japanese Researcher Wins Ig Nobel Prize for Nose-Blowing

Zurich, Sept. 3 (Jiji Press)–A late Japanese researcher won this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in medicine on Thursday for an aerodynamic study of how to blow one’s nose properly. It is the 20th straight year for a Japanese researcher to receive an Ig Nobel Prize, a spoof of the Nobel Prize that honors humorous but creative research. The medicine prize was given to the late Tokuji Unno, professor emeritus at Asahikawa Medical University in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, who died at the age of 89 in 2022. The award ceremony in Zurich, northern Switzerland, was attended by Miki Takahara, professor at the university, on behalf of Unno. Exploring the question of what it means to blow one’s nose well, Unno conducted a study that aerodynamically measured and analyzed the speed and amount of nasal breathing and the pressure on the ears of 15 people aged 14 to 48. His paper concluded that moderately inhaling and vigorously chewing for a long time on each side is highly effective in discharging nasal mucus, and that vigorous chewing does not cause otitis media. The award-winning paper, co-authored by Unno and published in 1977, was rediscovered by the prize organizers nearly half a century later. “Professor Unno approached even the most ordinary things with sincerity and dedicated himself to scientific clarification,” Takahara, who was once mentored by Unno, recalled. The paper was not only “unique and pioneering” but also “reflects Professor Unno’s attitude toward academic research,” Takahara said. Meanwhile, the Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to an international team of researchers from Japan, the United States, France and India for their study of a rare viviparous cockroach species that gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. The team found that the crystalline liquid secreted in the uterus of female cockroaches of the species contains milk proteins that provide three times as much energy as those of cow’s milk. Leonard Chavas, a 47-year-old French team member who was working at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, when the study was published in 2016, said that although he does not like cockroaches, he found them interesting as a research subject. He said he thought the award was a joke, but he was happy that the group’s research was recognized. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]