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Friday, 4 October, 2002, 11:23 GMT 12:23 UK
Birds, barking, beer and bellies
![]() Well done. Now, let's go celebrate
Proving ostriches have an amorous interest in humans has won a British scientist an IgNobel.
The prize, a spoof on the Nobel Prizes, was awarded at a ceremony in Boston, US. Nine other wacky research projects were also lauded, including the study that showed how to measure the surface area of an elephant and the paper that described how the froth on the top of a glass of beer collapses.
Come out bold The IgNobels are run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research. The gongs are there to recognise achievements which "cannot, or should not, be reproduced". The prizes were given out at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. As ever, the Brits were well represented. Statistician and ecologist Charles Paxton, from the University of St Andrews, took the biology IgNobel. He and colleagues had a paper on the courtship behaviour of ostriches published in the journal British Poultry Science.
"The ostriches were more interested in humans than they were in each other," Charles Paxton told the BBC. "The ostriches fancied the humans." The scientist said his team were delighted with their prize. "We are all very proud," he said. Other IgNobels were awarded in the following categories:
"He and a Nobel Laureate went out for a beer in Harvard Square before the ceremony to try to replicate the results," Marc Abrahams said.
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