# Ponytail physics wins Ig nobel **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379 "2012-09-21T11:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/1 "2012-09-21T11:27:32Z")
[Link](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19667664) \*A UK/US team that came up with an equation to predict the shape of a ponytail has earned itself an Ig Nobel. Patrick Warren, Raymond Goldstein, Robin Ball and Joe Keller picked up their prestigious award at a sellout gala ceremony at Harvard University.\* Also **Literature Prize:** The US Government General Accountability Office for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/2 "2012-09-21T16:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Johan Pettersson [SWEDEN and RWANDA]. for solving the puzzle of why, in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people’s hair turned green. Why do they leave us hanging? It turns out it was high levels of copper leaching into the water from the pipes overnight. [http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/](http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/) Note the photo. That’s really green, not the slight greenish tint I’d imagined. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/3 "2012-09-21T16:57:12Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Why do they leave us hanging? It turns out it was high levels of copper leaching into the water from the pipes overnight. [http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/](http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/) Note the photo. That’s really green, not the slight greenish tint I’d imagined. Note the rollover text for that photo
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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/4 "2012-09-21T17:13:45Z")
I like the way they deal with long acceptance speeches. The Oscars could learn something. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/5 "2012-09-21T17:18:59Z")
Swedish blonde women with green hair. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/6 "2012-09-21T17:27:10Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Why do they leave us hanging? It turns out it was high levels of copper leaching into the water from the pipes overnight. [http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/](http://www.thelocal.se/43366/20120921/) Note the photo. That’s really green, not the slight greenish tint I’d imagined. If you hover over that picture a little popup says “The green hair in the picture is not the green hair mentioned in the article”. That text should be more prominent. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/7 "2012-09-21T18:18:21Z")
Has anyone won both a Nobel Prize _and_ an Ig Nobel Prize? That would be a greater feat than that of people like Linus Pauling or Marie Curie, who won two Nobel Prizes. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/8 "2012-09-21T18:25:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Medicine Prize: Emmanuel Ben-Soussan and Michel Antonietti (France) for advising doctors who perform colonoscopies how to minimise the chance that their patients will explode. Whaaaaaaaa
?? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/9 "2012-09-21T18:45:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Has anyone won both a Nobel Prize _and_ an Ig Nobel Prize? That would be a greater feat than that of people like Linus Pauling or Marie Curie, who won two Nobel Prizes. To answer my own question, [Andre Geim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Geim) did this. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ponytail-physics-wins-ig-nobel/635379/10 "2012-09-21T18:52:33Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Note the rollover text for that photo
 Ah, didn’t notice that. Now I wonder what it really did look like.