Scientists studying cockroach milk, nose-blowing win 2026 Ig Nobel prizes for quirky science

Ten research teams were honored at a satirical science awards ceremony, the Ig Nobel prizes, which was hosted outside the US for the first time due to travel concerns. The ceremony was held in Zurich, Switzerland, at a convention center.

The winners included researchers who studied milk from cockroaches and analyzed soil health using underwear. According to the Associated Press, Matilda Brindle and Stuart West from the University of Oxford and Catherine F. Talbot from the Florida Institute of Technology reconstructed the evolutionary history of kissing.

The Ig Nobel prizes are organized by a digital magazine called the Annals of Improbable Research. The awards have traditionally been held in the US for 35 years but shifted to Europe due to concerns about attendees being able to get visas. As per tradition, audience members fashioned paper airplanes and hurled them toward the stage to kick off the show.

Brief written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour Science, PBS NewsHour, South China Morning Post, Phys.org, Associated Press — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.