The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria received Ig Nobel prize this year "for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters — General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq."
The scams (also known as 419 scams) are notorious for asking people to reveal their private bank information to help fictitious characters transfer large sums of money.

The Ig Nobel prizes, spoof prizes awarded by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, are presented at a ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the winners must try to explain their work in a minute or less.

The Medicine prize was given to Gregg Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles — artificial replacement testicles for dogs.

"Neuticles allow your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aids in the trauma associated with neutering. With Neuticles — It's like nothing ever changed!" reads Miller's Web site at http://www.neuticles.com.

The Economics prize was given to Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides.

The Ig Nobel prize in Fluid Dynamics went to Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen, Germany, and the University of Oulu, Finland; and Jozsef Gal of Lorond Eotvos University in Hungary, for "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh - Calculations on Avian Defecation," an actual study published in 2003 in the journal Polar Biology.

Source: Reuters