用冷凍便便製成刀、自戀者眉毛研究……搞笑諾貝爾獎又來了

2020搞笑諾貝爾獎近日揭曉，來自美國的一名人類學家因製作和測試用冷凍人類糞便製成的刀具而獲得了材料科學獎。來看看還有哪些無厘頭的搞笑研究吧。

The annals of science brim with researchers who pushed the boundaries of sense and good taste in a quest for knowledge. With the unveiling of the 30th annual Ig Nobel awards, another case shall be added.

每年的搞笑諾貝爾獎都在追求知識的過程中不斷拓展感官和品味的邊界。隨着第30屆年度搞笑諾貝爾獎揭曉，我們又將看到更多刷新認知的成果了。

To test the validity of a story in a work of ethnographic literature, Metin Eren, an anthropologist at Kent State University in Ohio, made a knife from his frozen faeces.

爲了測試一部人種學著作中一個故事的真實性，美國俄亥俄州肯特州立大學的人類學家梅廷·埃倫用自己冷凍的大便做了一把刀。

ethnographic [ˌeθnəˈɡræfɪk]: adj. 人種志的；民族誌學的

"It’s an honour to be recognised,” Eren said, before the ceremony in which he was honoured for his work on Thursday. “I’ve followed the Ig Nobels my entire life. It’s a dream come true. Really.”

“被認可是一種榮譽，”獲獎者埃倫在9月17日舉行搞笑諾貝爾頒獎禮前表示，“我一生都在追求搞笑諾貝爾獎。夢想成真了。真的。”

Not to be mistaken for the more prestigious – and lucrative – Nobel prizes, to be doled out in Scandinavia next month, the Ig Nobels celebrate research that “first makes people laugh, and then makes them think”.

不要把搞笑諾貝爾獎誤認爲聲望更高、獎金更豐厚的諾貝爾獎，後者將於下個月在斯堪的納維亞（瑞典）舉行。搞笑諾貝爾獎推崇的是“先讓人們笑，然後又讓人們思考的”研究。

In a ceremony held online, rather than at Harvard University as usual, 10 awards were handed out for notable achievements in physics, psychology, economics, medicine and more. In lieu of a handsome windfall and medal, the winners received a paper cube and a £10tn dollar bill from Zimbabwe.

今年的搞笑諾貝爾獎頒獎禮在網上舉行，而不像往年一樣在哈佛大學舉行。今年爲物理學、心理學、經濟學、醫藥學等領域的顯著成就頒發了10個獎項。搞笑諾貝爾獎得主獲得的不是一大筆獎金和獎章，而是一個紙做的獎盃和10萬億津巴布韋幣（相當於人民幣2毛錢）。

In lieu of: 代替

This year’s awards included a physics prize for work that recorded the shapes earthworms adopt when vibrated at high frequency. The peace prize honoured the governments of India and Pakistan for having their diplomats ring each other’s doorbells in the middle of the night and run away before anyone answered.

今年搞笑諾貝爾獎的物理學獎頒發給了一項記錄蚯蚓在高頻顫動時的形狀的研究。和平獎頒給了印度和巴基斯坦政府，他們讓各自的外交官在午夜按響對方的門鈴，然後在有人開門前跑掉。

Chris Watkins, a psychologist at the University of Abertay in UK, shared the economics prize. His research found that french kissing was more common between partners in areas of high income inequality.

英國阿伯泰大學的心理學家克里斯·沃特金斯和他人共同獲得了經濟學獎。他的研究發現，法式接吻在收入差距大的地區伴侶之間更常見。

The psychology prize went to researchers who discovered a way to identify narcissists from their eyebrows. “It’s exciting, it’s a fun award,” said Miranda Giacomin, who worked on the study at MacEwan University in Alberta, Canada. Her work built on research that found people could sometimes spot narcissists from their facial features. The eyebrows, Giacomin suggests, are key.

心理學獎頒給了發現用眉毛就能識別自戀者的研究人員。開展這一研究的加拿大亞伯達省麥科文大學的米蘭達·賈科明表示：“真令人興奮，這個獎很有趣。”她的成果基於一項研究，該研究發現，人們有時可以通過面部表情識別自戀者。賈科明指出，眉毛是關鍵。

Richard Vetter, a retired researcher at the University of California, Riverside, claimed the entomology prize for gathering case studies on arachnophobia among insect experts. He concluded that fear of spiders from an early age was not overcome by a career handling insects.

加利福尼亞大學河濱分校的退休研究人員理查德·維特爾獲得了昆蟲學獎，他對昆蟲學家害怕蜘蛛的案例研究進行了歸納總結。結論是，從小對蜘蛛的恐懼心理並不會因爲職業與昆蟲打交道而被克服。

Yet another gong went to Dutch and Belgian researchers for laying out the diagnosis for misophonia – the distress experienced on hearing another person chew – and showing that talking therapy helps treat it.

同樣獲得搞笑諾貝爾獎的還有荷蘭和比利時的研究人員，他們指出了恐音症（症狀是聽到別人咀嚼聲會感到痛苦）的治療方法，並表明談話療法有助於治癒恐音症。

misophonia: n. 恐音症

"It was a humorous rallying cry for evidence and fact checking,” Eren said of the unfunded work. “It’s a great story of human ingenuity, but we need to question and get evidence for everything that supports stances we hold dear to our heart, especially in these dark days.”

在談及沒有錢的搞笑諾貝爾獎時，埃倫表示：“這是一個呼籲證據和核實的幽默集會。這是一個關於人類創造力的偉大故事，但我們需要提出問題並蒐集到所有能支持我們堅守立場的證據，尤其在這樣的黑暗時刻。”