The Ig Nobel Prize for 2009 winners have been announced. The Public Health Prize winner was the inventor of a brassier that can be converted--in an emergency more dangerous than not wearing a bra--into two gas masks.

But my favorite is the Physics Prize for determining why pregnant women don't tip over. A close second is the Literature Prize to the Irish police service, for issuing tickets to the greatest traffic offender in Ireland, Prawo Jazdy; the Irish police are a little red-faced because that means Driving License in Polish.

The Peace Prize was just stupid: research to determine if conking someone over the head with a filled bottle of beer was a more dangerous than an empty bottle. (I claim the Philosophy Prize for considering whether a half-empty or half-full bottle is more dangerous.)

See Ig Nobel Prizes for 2009 for more prizes, and the names and nationality of the winners.