Research that investigated why bananas are slippery when you step on them has won one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.
The spoof awards that have become almost as famous as the real Nobels were handed out at their annual ceremony at Harvard University, US.
Kiyoshi Mabuchi’s Japanese team measured the friction of banana skin in the lab, and showed why apple and orange peel are not quite so hazardous.
The Kitasato University group received the physics Ig for their insights.
It is another classic of its type. The awards, which are run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, can seem quite ridiculous at first.
But when you delve deeper, you often see a serious intention beyond just the tongue in cheek.
The Japanese scientists are interested in how friction and lubrication affect the movement of our limbs.
The organic gels that give banana skins their slippery properties are also found in the membranes where our bones meet.
“This concept will help to design a joint prosthesis,” Kiyoshi Mabuchi told BBC News.
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