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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2005-10-21》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎歡笑一籮筐 搞笑諾貝爾當道 | |
| ◎頒獎典禮實況轉播 | |
| ◎企鵝排便力道研究得獎 | |
| ◎台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
| 歡笑一籮筐 搞笑諾貝爾當道 | |
| 成怡夏 | |
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搞笑諾貝爾是由科學幽默雜誌主編馬可‧亞伯拉罕在1991年發起的，表揚許多他工作上接觸到的搞笑科學研究。該獎項每年都會搶在真正的諾貝爾獎公布前公布，旨在表彰那些「無法重做亦不應被重現」的科學成就，可說是最詭異也最歡笑一籮筐的獎項。 雖然搞笑諾貝爾獎得主的獲獎研究成果通常都十分荒誕離奇，得獎似乎不是非常光榮的事情，但事實上大多數獲獎者都對入選感到高興。主辦單位表示，如果得獎人覺得受辱，主辦單位會撤除提名。不過這個獎項旨在鼓勵人們在科學、醫學和科技領域「不同尋常的想像力和創造力」，展現科學研究人性和有趣的一面。部分得獎人甚至願意自費來領獎。亞伯拉罕說，搞笑諾貝爾獎給予那些「一開始讓你大笑，隨後讓你陷入思考」的研究至高榮譽。 搞笑諾貝爾官方網址為http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-top.html。 |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 頒獎典禮實況轉播 | |
| 成怡夏 | |
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摘要 中松義郎博士每天有足夠時間享用食物，卻不需記憶3天前自己吃了些什麼，因為這位77歲的發明家兼作家，透過攝影機把自己每天每餐吃了什麼照了下來，這一做就持續了35年。這些照片幫助這位發明家發展出新的長壽理論。當然，這些照片也讓他獲得2005年搞笑諾貝爾營養獎項。 第15屆的搞笑諾貝爾獎典禮今年10月6日如往年一般在哈佛大學珊德斯劇院舉辦，當天氣氛也和過去每屆典禮一樣，既恣情又歡樂。上百名學生齊聚，把紙飛機射向舞台上，一架架紙飛機就這樣落到負責擔任這個獎項頒獎人的「真正」諾貝爾獎得主的腳下。 今年的搞笑諾貝爾獎共頒發十個獎項。搞笑諾貝爾醫學獎今年得主為葛瑞格‧密勒，他為被閹割的狗和其他動物發明了人造睪丸，這種睪丸還有三種不同的尺寸與硬度。在他得獎感言錄影帶中，密勒指出，他花了兩年的時間讓人造睪丸內的小球滾動。密勒還體貼地把他的成品樣本送給今年搞笑諾貝爾獎的每位得主，一人一份。 在這項產品的網站廣告上寫著：「人造睪丸讓您的寵物在被閹割後，保持自然外貌並維持高度自尊。」 今年另一項獎項的得主為兩位計算企鵝排便力道的歐洲研究者，這兩位得獎者由於無法取得簽證，未能參與頒獎典禮，他們也透過錄影帶發表感言。他們說，簽證申請遭美國拒絕，希望不是因為「他們的研究具有『爆發性』本質」。 英國新城堡大學的克萊兒‧里得和彼得‧西門斯獲得今年的搞笑諾貝爾和平獎，他們的研究是監控蝗蟲觀賞《星際大戰》時腦部細胞的變化。里得在得獎感言致詞表示：「我們之所以進行這項研究，是出於好奇心。」這項研究之所以獲得評審青睞，是因為里得同時也探討蝗蟲避開掠食者的方式。里得希望這項研究成果有助於發展讓汽車避免衝撞的新工具。 搞笑經濟獎得主則為麻省理工學院的蘭達，她因致力提升工作效能而備受讚譽。她發明了一種腳下有輪子的鬧鐘「Clocky」，這種鬧鐘會在被人按掉後，迅速逃走後再度藏匿起來，透過玩躲貓貓遊戲確保該起床的人起床，評審表示，「Clocky」應該會在每個工作天增加不少具工作效率的工時。蘭達在發表得獎感言時則表示：「我只想讓人們一早起來就想笑。」 阿伯罕斯在頒獎典禮上戴著高帽子並穿著燕尾服，在歌劇表演以及1976年諾貝爾化學獎得主暨發展生物學家藍恩‧馬古里斯和威廉‧利普斯孔柏24秒鐘的超迷你演講間，一一宣佈得獎者名單。 獎座放置在一個上面裝飾有「無限」（∞）符號的藍色禮物盒中。「無限」就是今年頒獎典禮的主題。每當台上提到「無限」兩字，底下觀眾就會爆出歡呼聲。今年共頒發10個獎項，有7名得主親自到美國領獎，共1千2百人觀禮，得獎感言限制只有一分鐘，時間快要截止時如果得獎人還滔滔不絕，就會有一名8歲女童一步步逼近講台，不斷喊著：「請住嘴吧！我快無聊死了。」 節目以慣例進行：歌劇表演、有趣演說，和頒獎。不過今年有一件破搞笑諾貝爾獎紀錄的事：具參加搞笑諾貝爾獎10年經驗的哈佛大學物理教授榮伊‧葛勞勃，過去年年在台下摺紙飛機、射紙飛機，今年稍早則獲得2005年的諾貝爾物理獎。 沒錯，是真的諾貝爾獎，不是搞笑諾貝爾獎。不過，可以想像的是，由於今年行程衝突，葛勞勃不克來到現場射紙飛機。 贏得搞笑諾貝爾獎的中松博士則很享受觀眾的喧鬧，但是就像其他搞笑諾貝爾獎得主一樣，他把他的研究看得很認真而嚴肅。中松的研究有一項令人驚訝的發現，他在論文中寫道：「人類偏愛一天吃三餐，若每餐食用糙米，人類應可活到144歲，而腦部仍維持良好狀況。」 （資料來源／http://www.wired.com/news） 原文 Yoshiro NakaMats has enough on his plate without hav-ing to remember what he had for lunch three days ago. But the prolific 77-year-old inventor and author (known to some as Japan's Ray Kurzweil) does indeed want to remem-ber his meals -- every one of them. That's why NakaMats, perhaps best known as the inven-tor of the floppy disk and author of the book How to Be-come a Superman Lying Down, dutifully photographs all of his dinners, lunches and breakfasts.NakaMats has been tak-ing the pictures for 35 years. They have helped the inventor come up with new theories about longevity. The photos have also earned NakaMats the 2005 Ig No-bel Prize in nutrition, which the inventor accepted in a cere-mony combining the surreal and slapstick at the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University. This was the 15th Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, and it was every bit as riotous as its predecessors. Hundreds of students fired paper airplanes toward the Sanders Theatre stage, where they landed at the feet of the real Nobel Laureates who were there to hand out the goofy awards. There were 10 prizes this year: The Ig Nobel Prize in medicine went to Gregg Miller, inventor of Neuticles, artifi-cial testicle replacements for neutered dogs and other ani-mals, which come in different sizes and levels of firmness. In his videotaped acceptance speech, Miller noted the time it took to develop his invention. "It took two years to get the balls rolling," he said. Miller sent Neuticles samples to each of the Nobel Lau-reates at the ceremony. "Neuticles (allow) your pet to retain his natural look, self-esteem and aids in the trauma associated with neuter-ing," the product's website says. Another gross-out idea won this year's Ig Nobel Prize in fluid dynamics: Two European researchers calculated the pressure that builds up inside a penguin about to go potty, and reported their findings in a paper entitled "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defaecation". The two co-authors could not get visas to attend the cere-mony, and delivered a videotaped acceptance speech. The researchers said they hoped the rejection of their visa applications "had nothing to do with the explosive nature of our work." The Ig Nobels, which are organized by the magazine An-nals of Improbable Research, recognize the most bizarre and hilarious achievements in science and the arts. Annals editor Marc Abrahams says the Ig Nobels honor research that "first makes people laugh, then makes them think." Abrahams, wearing top hat and tails, announced the awards between opera acts and 24-second mini-lectures by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis and William Lip-scomb, winner of 1976 Nobel Prize in chemistry, among other nutty performances.The prize trophy appeared to be a blue gift box topped with the symbol for infinity. "Infinity" was the theme of this year's ceremony. The crowd whooped each time the word was mentioned. The program unfolded according to a familiar formula: the opera, the funny lectures, the prizes. But there was one twist for the Ig Nobel record books: Harvard physics professor Roy Glauber, after spending a decade attending Ig Nobel ceremonies and sweeping paper airplanes off the Sanders stage, was awarded the 2005 No-bel Prize in physics earlier this week. Yes, that's a Nobel -- not an Ig Nobel. Glauber, due to an obvious scheduling conflict, was un-available to sweep the stage this year.NakaMats, who won the Ig Nobel for his ongoing meal photography, seemed to enjoy the razzing from the Ig Nobel crowd. But, like other Ig Nobel winners, he also takes his research seriously. NakaMats' food photography has yielded some surpris-ing findings: "One meal per day is preferable to three," the inventor said. "And by taking brown rice with every meal, it is possible to live 144 years, and keep the brain in good con-dition." |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 企鵝排便力道研究得獎 | |
| 成怡夏 | |
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Penguins' pooping power scoops Ig Nobel prize 摘要 企鵝排便可以噴多遠？人們在糖漿中游泳是否可以游得比在水中游泳還快？這些都是2005年搞笑諾貝爾獎得主回答的棘手問題。 明尼蘇達大學的艾德華‧卡斯勒和布萊恩‧蓋特爾芬格今年獲得搞笑諾貝爾化學獎的殊榮，他們解決了人們到底在糖漿中游泳游得快，還是在水中游得快的問題。 這個問題是蓋特爾芬格提出，他還只是個學生，一開始只是單純想知道參加奧林匹克游泳訓練如何增加自己的速度。於是他和卡斯勒在通過22個不同單位與層級的批准後，於學校兩個25碼長的游泳池進行這項實驗。他們將相當於20個聯結車份量的玉米糖漿和水混合進行實驗，不過之後卻因為糖漿堵塞下水道，明尼阿波里斯市被要求以2萬美元解決堵塞問題後，該計畫宣告終止。 取而代之的，他們在其中一個游泳池內攪拌310公斤的瓜爾豆粉（Guar Gum powder）。克斯勒告訴新科學家雜誌說：「隔天早上我們到游泳池看成果時，發現一切不大美好，看起來就像是稀釋的鼻涕一樣。」儘管如此，16名游泳志工仍未退縮，他們還是在兩個泳池各游了兩趟。他們表示，從糖漿泳池出來，走進裝滿乾淨水的泳池游泳時，就像是洗澡一般。 記錄他們的游泳時間後，克斯勒發現，較濃稠的液體激發泳者爆發力，結果兩個泳池的測驗結果沒有明顯差異。他說，這個結果相當有趣，不過他也承認「一切都白做了」。 另外一項搞笑諾貝爾獎頒給了對企鵝排便力道進行理論分析研究。這項研究是由德國不來梅國際大學的貝諾‧梅耶－羅洽，和匈牙利的羅倫斯大學蓋爾所執行的。 他們發現，每當艾德琳企鵝想要排泄，這些貌似沉思的企鵝都不大願意離巢如廁，讓企鵝蛋暴露在冷空氣中；通常他們僅僅把臀部朝向外面，然後舉起尾巴發射！噴射而出的排泄物一般可以遠達40公分。 他們在參佐企鵝高度、肛門結構、和排泄物的黏稠性後，計算出企鵝肛門產生的內壓可達0.1到0.6大氣壓，比人類最高的內壓卓越許多。 這種類型的研究，對於嚴謹的科學家來說是不是芝麻蒜皮的無聊研究？「事實上，只有一些人這麼覺得。」梅耶－羅恰這麼告訴新科學家記者說：「我們聽取動物園管理者、古生物學家、工程師、人類生理學家等專家回覆時，他們都能了解測驗並研究各類生物的排洩特性，是件相當重要的事。」 （資料來源／http://www.newscien-tist.com/article.ns?id=dn8108） 原文 How far penguins can poop and whether people can swim faster in syrup than water were among the sticky questions answered by winners of the 2005 Ig Nobel prizes. The spoof awards, organised by the sci-ence humour journal, the Annals of Im-probable Research, honour scientific achievements that "make people laugh - then think". They were presented at Har-vard University's otherwise distinguished Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Mas-sachusetts, US, on Thursday. Edward Cussler and Brian Gettelfinger, at the University of Minnesota, US, re-ceived the Chemistry Ig Nobel for resolv-ing whether people can swim faster in syrup than water. The question arose as Gettelfinger, a student, wondered how to increase his speed as he trained for Olympic swimming trials. So the pair set up an experiment in two 25-yard swimming pools on campus - re-quiring 22 separate levels of approval. They were offered 20 train cars' worth of corn syrup to mix with water, but the city of Minneapolis ended that plan by de-manding $20,000 since draining the syrup would overload the sewage system. Instead, they stirred 310 kilograms of guar gum powder into one pool. "It wasn't pretty when we came in the next morning," Cussler told New Scientist. "It looked like diluted snot." But that did not stop 16 volunteer swimmers. All swam two lengths in each pool, showering as they went from the syrupy pool to clean water. Timing the swimmers, Cussler found that the thicker liquid increased the power of their strokes as much as it increased the drag on their bodies, so it made no difference. "It was fun," he says, but in the end it was "totally useless". Poopal velocity An Ig Nobel for fluid dynamics was awarded for a theoretical analysis of pen-guin poop propulsion, conducted by Ben-no Meyer-Rochow of the International U-niversity of Bremen in Germany and Oulu University in Finland, and Jozsef Gal of Lorand Eotvos University in Hungary. When nature calls, brooding chinstrap and Adelie penguins are reluctant to leave their nests and expose their eggs to the cold. Instead, they simply point their rear outward, lift their tail, and fire. The de-parting excreta typically reaches distances of about 40 centimetres. Accounting for the bird's height, anal anatomy, and poopal velocity and viscosi-ty, the researchers calculated that the in-ternal pressures reach 10 to 60 kilopascals (0.1 to 0.6 atmospheres), well above the highest pressures humans can put to the task. But is this not a rather trivial matter for serious scientists? "Actually, only a few people felt this," Meyer-Rochow told New Scientist. "And when we explained the re-sponses from zookeepers, palaeontolo-gists, engineers, human physiologists and so on, everybody understood that examin-ing the physical properties of the release of fluids through small orifices was something of general importance." |
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| 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
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