Teflon Diet, Zebra Beef and Garlic Milk: The Unusual Research Winners of the 35th Ig Nobel Prize

DNVN - The Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded to “recognize astonishing achievements that make people laugh and think.” The awards celebrate extraordinary contributions to science, celebrate imagination and spark interest in science, medicine and technology. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the awards.

The latest winners were honored at a ceremony at Boston University in the US on September 18, 2025. The prize honors research that makes people "laugh first and think later." The prizes are announced and presented by actual Nobel laureates, with winners receiving a symbolic prize worth 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars.

Below is a summary of the 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes and the research works that were honored:

Chemistry Prize

This year's Ig Chemistry Prize was won by Dr. Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich, and obesity specialist Frank Greenway for their work on the idea of ​​mixing PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), also known as Teflon, into food as a zero-calorie filler to help with weight loss or curb hunger. The idea is to cut calories by feeding people Teflon. The researchers explain that PTFE can make up as much as a quarter of our food by volume. PTFE was chosen because it is inert, heat-resistant, tasteless, and impervious to stomach acid. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been lukewarm on the idea.

Biology Prize

Dr. Tomoki Kojima and his team (Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima, Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and Katsutoshi Kino) won the 2025 Ig Biology Prize for their research. The study demonstrated that Japanese Black cattle painted with black and white zebra stripes were less susceptible to fly bites than unpainted cattle or cattle painted with only black stripes. The researchers speculate that the stripes may confuse the fly's motion detection system, making it harder for flies to land on the cattle.

Biology Prize-winning researchers have shown that cows painted with black and white stripes are less likely to be bitten by flies.

Peace Prize

The Ig Peace Prize was awarded to Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field, Jessica Werthmann and a team of German, Dutch and British researchers. Their work demonstrated that occasionally taking a small sip of vodka improves a person's ability to speak a foreign language. The small sip seemed to boost confidence without making speech become slurred or distorted. The improvement was not due to general language ability but to a reduction in language anxiety, which allowed the participants to speak more freely.

Physics Prize

Researchers have found a formula to prevent cacio e pepe pasta from clumping.

Giacomo Bartolucci, Daniel Maria Busiello, Matteo Ciarchi, Alberto Corticelli, Ivan Di Terlizzi, Fabrizio Olmeda, Davide Revignas and Vincenzo Maria Schimmenti are the 2025 Ig Prize winners for their work that sheds light on the phase transition in Cacio e Pepe pasta that leads to the unpleasant lumpiness. The team developed a method to prevent lumpiness by using the right proportion of starch.

Nutrition Award

The Ig Nutrition Prize was awarded to Luca Luiselli, Daniele Dendi, Gabriel H. Segniagbeto, Roger Meek, and colleagues for their study of the preferences of rainbow lizards (Agama agama) at a coastal resort in Togo. The lizards overwhelmingly preferred "four cheese" pizza over other pizzas. The researchers speculated that cheese may be easier to digest or more energy-dense.

Pediatric Award

Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp won the 2025 Pediatrics Ig for their research on the impact of diet on the flavor of breast milk, demonstrating that infants breastfed longer after their mothers ate garlic (by taking garlic capsules). Breast milk had a stronger odor after the mothers took garlic capsules. This research has important implications for understanding how breastfeeding experiences influence a child's later acceptance of new foods.

Literature Prize

The Literature Prize winner was the late Dr. William B. Bean of the University of Iowa. The prize was awarded posthumously to him for his tenacious recording and analysis of the growth rate of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years.

Psychology Prize

Dr Marcin Zajenkowski of the University of Warsaw (Poland) and Gilles Gignac of the University of Western Australia won the 2025 Psychology Ig for their research into what happens when you tell narcissists they are smart. The findings show that these people believe it and tend to brag and become more narcissistic.

Aviation Awards

"Drunken" bats will have reduced ability to fly and navigate

Researchers Francisco Sánchez, Mariana Melcón, Carmi Korine, and Berry Pinshow were awarded the 2025 Ig Aviation Prize for their research into the effects of alcohol on flight and navigation. The researchers found that drunk bats flew more slowly and their echolocation abilities were impaired. Bats that ate a lot of fermented fruit may have “a higher risk of collision with obstacles.”

Engineering Design Award

Vikash Kumar of the Shiv Nadar Institute of Advanced Studies and Sarthak Mittal of Newgen Software Technologies, India, were the winners of the 2025 Engineering Design Ig category. The prize was awarded for creating a shoe rack that can deodorize sneakers . The rack (which resembles a cardboard box) contains a UV light that can kill harmful bacteria in minutes, but can also burn shoes.

The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize once again highlights the power of science inspired by curiosity, demonstrating that seemingly absurd ideas can bring about the most surprising insights into the world around us.

Hien Thao (According to The Guardian, Gizmodo, PopularScience)

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