Reanimated spiders and smart toilets triumph at Ig Nobel prizes

The winner of the Ig Nobel prize for public health, Seung-min Park, in front of Rodin’s thinker statue at Stanford University. Photograph: PR Image/Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam

From using dead spiders to grip objects to probing the weird feeling that occurs when the same word is written over and over again, researchers investigating some of the quirkiest conundrums in science have been honoured in this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.

Unlike the rather more stately Nobel prizes – which will be announced next month – the Ig Nobel prizes celebrate unusual areas of research that “make people laugh, then think”. They also come with a rather less majestic cheque: this year’s winning teams will each receive a 10 trillion dollar bill … from Zimbabwe.