The IgNobel Awards for weird science

[Belisarius]

Many of you will already know of the IgNobel Awards, presented to scientists who have conducted the strangest research each year. This year's awards were on Thursday.
http://improbable.com/ig/winners/

Highlights included prizes for research on the following important issues:

• Dog fleas can jump 20 cm higher than cat fleas
  
• Lap dancers in oestrus (ovulation) earn more than those who aren't
  
• Potato crisps/chips taste fresher if the crunch sound is electronically enhanced
  
• Expensive placebos are more effective than cheap placebos
  
• The chemistry prize was shared between a team who proved that Coca Cola is a spermicide and another team who proved it isn't
  
• My personal favourite: the physics prize went to a study showing how filaments (strings, hairs, cables) will spontaneously form tangles and knots. This explains both the scene behind my computer and my hair every morning.