Italian team nabs Ig Nobel Prize for perfect pasta sauce
The 35th Ig Nobel Prizes, held in September 2025, celebrated offbeat research that mixes humor with real science.
Highlights included an Italian team cracking the code for perfect Cacio e Pepe sauce (no clumping!) and a study revealing how alcohol throws bats off their flying game.
Other winners included a study on pizza preferences of lizards
Winners also explored whether eating Teflon can increase food volume without increasing calories, what kind of pizza lizards like best, and how babies react when their moms eat garlic.
These unusual studies show that science can be curious and fun while still teaching us something new.
The ceremony honored Tom Lehrer, the mathematician-songwriter
The ceremony paid tribute to Tom Lehrer, a beloved mathematician-songwriter who helped shape the event.
A unique literature prize went posthumously to William Bean for tracking his fingernail growth over 35 years—his son accepted it for him.
If you're curious to hear from this year's winners directly, check out the schedule for the "Ig Nobel Face-to-Face" tour to learn more about their research.