A plan to reduce calorie intake by adding Teflon to food and painting cows to look like zebras so they might get bitten by flies less are among the winning research projects of this years Ig Nobel prizes.
The tongue-in-cheek award for silly but inventive scientific endeavour also recognised a study of "the extent to which a certain kind of lizard chooses to eat certain kinds of pizza" and "discoveries about the physics of pasta sauce".
Winners in categories from literature to biology were recognised at a ceremony at Boston University on Thursday.
"Every Ig Nobel prize winner has done something that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think," said Marc Abrahams, founder of the awards.
Researchers in the US and Israel took home the Ig Nobel award for chemistry thanks to their project to see if Teflon, the plastic anti-stick coating commonly used on pots and pans, provided a good means of bulking up food without adding calories.
