Rich people more likely to steal children’s sweets, finds Ig Nobel prize-winning study

Volunteers were left alone with a jar of sweets ostensibly meant for children; when researchers returned, upper-class people had snaffled far more. Photograph: Nitat Termmee/Getty Images

It’s that time of year again: a select group of scientists have been summoned to a ceremony to receive coveted prizes, be showered in paper planes, and leave with a 10tn dollar bill, albeit in the form of a phased-out note from Zimbabwe. It is, of course, the annual Ig Nobel awards.

Not to be confused with the more prestigious and career-changing Nobel prizes that will be announced in Scandinavia next month, the satirical Ig Nobels are awarded for achievements that “first make people laugh and then make them think”.