The Ig Nobel Prize is a humorous parody of the Nobel Prizes, almost as famous as its more serious counterpart. The Ig Nobels are awarded annually at Harvard University in honour of the most trivia and unusual scientific achievements and an Australian professor from Flinders University has been awarded for devising a way on how to unboil an egg.
Professor Colin Raston invented the Vortex Fluid Device which can partially unboil an egg according to reports by the Business Insider. He was pretty surprised to know he has won the prestigious award. "Wow, did I really do that?" he said when he learned he won an Ig Nobel Prize. "It's living the dream."
He added, "All scientists want to do something that is significant, but this has the wow factor. Winning an Ig is both humbling and amazing."
Unboiling an egg is not what the machine sets out to do initially. The device is capable of separating proteins which makes it possible for the white part of the cooked egg to be runny again. The device is used for application in cancer treatments, pharmaceutical processes, production of biofuels and food processing. The device is said to boost the potency of regular cancer drugs up to four times giving optimum performance with less side effects.
"The sheer scale of this is mind boggling. The global pharmaceutical industry alone is worth $160 billion annually and the processing of proteins is central to it. The VFD (Vortex Fluidic Device ) is completely changing it - and is set to do the same for the fuel and food industries", he said.
Ig Nobel Prizes were also awarded to a team of professors in Netherlands who found out the meaning of the word "Huh" and their in-depth study of the language. German and Austrian mathematicians were also recipients of the prestigious award for their comprehensive study of human body's limitations. Their study focused on the possibility of fathering 600 sons as in the story of Moulay Ismail. A list of all the winners can be found on their website.
Ig Nobel Prize is organized by the Annals of Improbable Research with editorial panel of 50 eminent world scientists, among which are Nobel Prize winners.
