Ten research teams were honored on September 3, 2026, at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony held in Zurich, Switzerland. This event marked the first time the awards were hosted outside the United States, due to travel concerns related to visa accessibility for attendees.
The Ig Nobel Prizes, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, celebrate unusual and imaginative contributions to science. Among the awarded research projects were studies on milk from cockroaches and the use of buried underwear to analyze soil health across more than 25 countries.
Notable recipients included Matilda Brindle and Stuart West from the University of Oxford, along with Catherine F. Talbot from the Florida Institute of Technology, who reconstructed the evolutionary history of kissing. The late Dr. Tokuji Unno was recognized for his investigation into the science of blowing one's nose.
The ceremony featured a tradition where audience members threw paper airplanes at the stage to commence the event. Organizers announced plans to alternate future ceremonies between Zurich and other European countries, with the next event scheduled for Antwerp, Belgium, in 2027. Previous ceremonies were held at institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but there are currently no plans to return to the U.S.
Marc Abrahams, the master of ceremonies and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, stated in an email that it has become unsafe for guests to visit the U.S. The Nobel Prizes, which are unrelated to the Ig Nobel Prizes, will be announced in early October.