Science's Dubious Distinctions Noted

The definitive study on bellybutton lint, a dog-to-person translation device and an inquiry into what arouses ostriches were recognized with Ig Nobel prizes for dubious contributions to science and cocktail-party conversations everywhere.

The Ig Nobel Prizes, announced Thursday and awarded annually at Harvard University as a spoof of the Nobel ceremony, recognize achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced."

"It's a great honor. It introduces people to the idea that science is fun," said Karl Kruszelnicki, a University of Sydney researcher who wrote the paper on bellybutton lint.

Kruszelnicki, at his own expense, studied bellybutton lint samples sent to him by 5,000 people. He concluded the lint is a combination of clothing fibers and skin cells that are led to the navel, via body hair, "as all roads lead to Rome."

"Your typical generator of bellybutton lint or fluff is a slightly overweight, middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen," Kruszelnicki said.

A potentially more practical achievement is a Japanese device that measures the tone of a dog's bark and relays his mood. The device is on the market in Japan, and an English version, called Bow-Lingual, should be ready in about a year.

British scientists were honored for research that found that ostriches become more amorous with each other when a human is around. In fact, ostriches eventually start putting the moves on humans.

In economics, the executives and auditors at Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and a host of other companies were commended by the Ig Nobel committee "for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world."

Actual Nobel Laureates bestow the awards at a raucous ceremony, during which the winners are hailed with cheers and a flurry of paper airplanes.

Winners are selected from thousands of nominations by a secret committee.

If a recipient feels insulted by the award, it's withdrawn, said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Cambridge-based Annals of Improbable Research, which bestows the award. He said most people are pleased with the prize.

By Jay Lindsay