Marc Abrahams: A science award that makes you laugh, then think

Prevoditelj: Anja Kolobarić Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

George and Charlotte Blonsky, who were

George i Charlotte Blomsky,

a married couple living in the Bronx in New York City,

bračni par iz Bronxa u NY-u,

invented something.

izumili su nešto.

They got a patent in 1965 for what they call,

Godine 1965. patentirali su nešto što su nazvali

"a device to assist women in giving birth."

"naprava za pomoć ženama pri porodu".

This device consists of a large, round table

Ta se naprava sastojala od velikog okruglog stola

and some machinery.

i nešto aparata.

When the woman is ready to deliver her child,

Kada je žena spremna za porod,

she lies on her back,

legne na leđa,

she is strapped down to the table,

svežu je za stol

and the table is rotated at high speed.

koji se vrti velikom brzinom.

The child comes flying out

Dijete izleti

through centrifugal force.

zahvaljujući centrifugalnoj sili.

If you look at their patent carefully,

Ako pozorno promotrite njihov patent,

especially if you have any engineering background or talent,

pogotovo ako imate bilo kakvog znanja o inženjeringu ili talenta u inženjeringu,

you may decide that you see

mogli biste primijetiti

one or two points where the design is not perfectly adequate. (Laughter)

jedan ili dva pitanja po kojima taj dizajn i nije baš primjeren. (Smijeh)

Doctor Ivan Schwab in California

Dr. Ivan Schwab iz Kalifornije

is one of the people, one of the main people,

jedan je od ključnih ljudi

who helped answer the question,

koji su pomogli riješiti pitanje:

"Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?"

"Zašto djetlića ne boli glava?"

And it turns out the answer to that

A odgovor glasi:

is because their brains

mozak im je

are packaged inside their skulls

smješten unutar lubanje

in a way different from the way

na način drugačiji od onoga

our brains, we being human beings,

na koji je smješten naš mozak -

true, have our brains packaged.

ljudski mozak.

They, the woodpeckers, typically

Djetlići inače

will peck, they will bang their head

kljucaju, udaraju glavom

on a piece of wood thousands of times every day. Every day!

o drvo po tisuće puta dnevno svaki dan. Svaki dan!

And as far as anyone knows,

I koliko svi mi znamo,

that doesn't bother them in the slightest.

to im nimalo ne smeta.

How does this happen?

Kako to?

Their brain does not slosh around like ours does.

Njihov se mozak ne mućka poput našega,

Their brain is packed in very tightly,

već je čvrsto naguran,

at least for blows coming right from the front.

barem za udarce sprijeda.

Not too many people paid attention

Nije se puno ljudi bavilo

to this research until the last few years

tim istraživanjem sve do zadnjih nekoliko godina

when, in this country especially,

kada je, pogotovo u ovoj zemlji,

people are becoming curious about

ljude zainteresiralo

what happens to the brains of football players

što se događa mozgovima igrača američkog nogometa

who bang their heads repeatedly.

koji se neprestanu sudaraju glavama.

And the woodpecker maybe relates to that.

Djetlić se možda može poistovjetiti s tim.

There was a paper published

Objavljen je članak

in the medical journal The Lancet

u medicinskom časopisu "The Lancet"

in England a few years ago called

prije nekoliko godina u Engleskoj:

" A man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for 5 years."

"Čovjek koji je pet godina bockao svoj prst i užasno smrdio."

Dr. Caroline Mills and her team

Dr. Caroline Mills i njezin tim

received this patient and didn't really know what to do about it.

primili su tog pacijenta i nisu bili sigurni što učiniti s njim.

The man had cut his finger,

Taj si je čovjek porezao prst,

he worked processing chickens,

bavio se obradom pilića,

and then he started to smell really, really bad.

a zatim je počeo užasno smrdjeti.

So bad that when he got in a room

Toliko užasno da

with the doctors and the nurses,

doktori i sestre

they couldn't stand being in the room with him.

nisu mogli biti u istoj sobi s njim.

It was intolerable.

Bilo je nepodnošljivo.

They tried every drug,

Isprobali su svaki lijek

every other treatment they could think of.

i svaku terapiju koje su se dosjetili.

After a year, he still smelled putrid.

Nakon godinu dana i dalje je užasno smrdio.

After two years, still smelled putrid.

Nakon dvije godine također.

Three years, four years, still smelled putrid.

Nakon tri godine, četiri godine i dalje je užasno smrdio.

After five years, it went away on its own.

Nakon pet godina smrad se povukao sam od sebe.

It's a mystery.

Pravi misterij.

In New Zealand, Dr. Lianne Parkin

Na Novom Zelandu dr. Lianne Parkin

and her team tested an old tradition in her city.

i njezin tim testirali su staru gradsku tradiciju.

They live in a city that has huge hills,

Žive u gradu velikih brda,

San Francisco-grade hills.

brda u rangu San Franciska.

And in the winter there, it gets very cold

Zimi je ondje jako hladno

and very icy.

i jako sklisko.

There are lots of injuries.

Nastane mnogo ozljeda.

The tradition that they tested,

Tradiciju su ispitali

they tested by asking people

ispitujući ljude

who were on their way to work in the morning,

koji su ujutro išli na posao

to stop and try something out.

da zastanu i isprobaju nešto,

Try one of two conditions.

da isprobaju jedan od dvaju zahtjeva.

The tradition is that in the winter,

Tradicija glasi: zimi

in that city, you wear your socks on the outside of your boots.

u tom gradu čarape se nose NA čizmama.

And what they discovered by experiment,

Eksperimentom su otkrili

and it was quite graphic when they saw it,

i prilično živopisno uočili

was that it's true.

da je tradicija istinita.

That if you wear your socks on the outside rather than the inside,

Ako čarape nosite NA čizmama, a ne U čizmama,

you're much more likely to survive and not slip and fall.

vjerojatnije je da ćete preživjeti, a ne se poskliznuti i pasti.

Now, I hope you will agree with me that these things

Nadam se da se slažete sa mnom da sve ove stvari

I've just described to you,

koja sam vam upravo opisao

each of them, deserves some kind of prize. (Laughter)

zaslužuju neku nagradu. (Smijeh)

And that's what they got,

A to su i dobile!

each of them got an Ig Nobel prize.

Svaka je od njih dobila nagradu Ig Nobel.

In 1991, I, together with bunch of other people,

Godine 1991. ja i još neki ljudi

started the Ig Nobel prize ceremony.

osnovali smo svečanost povodom dodjele nagrade Ig Nobel.

Every year we give out 10 prizes.

Svake godine dodjeljujemo deset nagrada,

The prizes are based on just one criteria. It's very simple.

a nagrade se dodjeljuju samo po jednom kriteriju. Jednostavno -

It's that you've done something that makes people laugh and then think.

to mora biti nešto što ljude najprije tjera na smijeh, a potom na razmišljanje.

What you've done makes people laugh and then think.

Tjera ih na smijeh pa na razmišljanje.

Što god to bilo, u tome mora biti nešto

što kod ljudi na prvi pogled

their only possible reaction is to laugh.

izaziva samo jednu reakciju - smijeh.

And then a week later,

A onda tjedan dana kasnije

it's still rattling around in their heads

još im se uvijek mota po glavama

and all they want to do is tell their friends about it.

i sve što žele učiniti jest podijeliti to s prijateljima.

That's the quality we look for.

Takvu kvalitetu tražimo.

Every year, we get in the neighborhood

Svake godine dobijemo

of 9,000 new nominations for the Ig Nobel prize.

oko 9.000 novih nominacija za nagradu Ig Nobel.

Of those, consistently between 10 percent

Redovno između 10%

and 20 percent of those nominations

i 20% svih nominacija

are people who nominate themselves.

nailazimo na ljude koji su sami sebe nominirali.

Those self-nominees almost never win.

Takve nominacije gotovo nikad ne osvoje nagradu.

It's very difficult, numerically, to win a prize if you want to.

Brojčano je jako teško osvojiti nagradu ukoliko to želite.

Even if you don't want to,

Čak i ako ne želite,

it's very difficult numerically.

brojčano je jako teško.

You should know that when we choose somebody

Morate znati da kad mi izaberemo nekoga

to win an Ig Nobel prize,

za nagradu Ig Nobel,

We get in touch with that person, very quietly.

s tom osobom stupimo u kontakt bez puno buke.

We offer them the chance to decline

Damo im priliku da odbiju

this great honor if they want to.

tu veliku čast ukoliko to žele.

Happily for us, almost everyone who's offered a prize

Na našu sreću, gotovo svatko kome ponudimo nagradu

decides to accept.

odluči je prihvatiti.

What do you get if you win an Ig Nobel prize?

Što dobivate ako osvojite ovu nagradu?

Well, you get several things.

Pa dosta toga.

You get an Ig Nobel prize.

Dobijete nagradu Ig Nobel.

The design is different every year.

Dizajn je svake godine drugačiji.

These are always handmade from extremely cheap materials.

Nagrade su uvijek rađene ručno od iznimno jeftinih materijala.

You're looking at a picture

Ovo je slika

of the prize we gave last year, 2013.

nagrade koju smo dali prošle godine, 2013.

Most prizes in the world also give

Mnoge svjetske dodjele nagrada

their winners some cash, some money.

dobitnicima daju i nešto novca.

We don't have any money,

Mi nemamo novca,

so we can't give them.

pa im ga ne možemo ni dati.

In fact, the winners have to pay their own way

Štoviše, dobitnici moraju o vlastitom trošku

to come to the Ig Nobel ceremony,

doći na dodjelu nagrada,

which most of them do.

što većina njih i učini.

Last year, though, we did manage to scrape up some money.

Prošle smo godine ipak uspjeli smoći nešto novca.

Last year, each of the 10 Ig Nobel prize winners

Prošle godine svaki od deset dobitnika

received from us 10 trillion dollars.

od nas je dobio 10 trilijuna dolara.

A $10 trillion bill from Zimbabwe. (Laughter)

Novčanicu zimbabveanskog dolara u vrijednosti od 10 trilijuna dolara.

You may remember that Zimbabwe had a little adventure

Možda se sjećate zgode koju je Zimbabve prošao

for a few years there of inflation.

za vrijeme trajanja inflacije.

They ended up printing bills

Tiskali su novčanice

that were in denominations as large as 100 trillion dollars.

u vrijednosti do 100 trilijuna dolara.

The man responsible, who runs the national bank there, by the way,

Čovjek zaslužan za to, voditelj njihove nacionalne banke,

won an Ig Nobel prize in mathematics.

osvojio je nagradu Ig Nobel za matematiku.

The other thing you win is an invitation

Također osvojite i pozivnicu

to come to the ceremony,

za svečanost

which happens at Harvard University.

koja se održava na Harvardu.

And when you get there,

Kad ondje stignete,

you come to Harvard's biggest meeting place and classroom.

uđete u jednu od najvećih im soba za sastanke i učionicu

It fits 1,100 people,

u koju stane 1.100 ljudi.

it's jammed to the gills,

Prostorija bude krcata,

and up on the stage,

a na pozornici

waiting to shake your hand,

čeka da vam pruži ruku,

waiting to hand you your Ig Nobel prize,

čeka da vam uruči nagradu Ig Nobel

are a bunch of Nobel prize winners.

gomila dobitnika Nobelove nagrade.

That's the heart of the ceremony.

To je vrhunac svečanosti.

The winners are kept secret until that moment,

Dobitnike se drži u tajnosti do tog trenutka,

even the Nobel laureates who will shake their hand

čak ni Nobelovi laureati koji će im pružiti ruku

don't know who they are until they're announced.

ne znaju o kome se radi sve dok se dobitnike ne prozove.

I am going to tell you about just a very few

Ispričat ću vam o samo nekolicini

of the other medical-related prizes we've given.

drugih nagrada koje smo dali na području medicine.

Keep in mind, we've given 230 prizes.

Imajte na umu da smo dali 230 nagrada.

There are lots of these people who walk among you.

Puno je tih ljudi koji hodaju među vama.

Maybe you have one.

Možda i vi imate jednu nagradu.

A paper was published about 30 years ago

Studiju objavljenu prije tridesetak godina

called "Injuries due to Falling Coconuts."

pod imenom "Ozljede uzrokovane padajućim kokosima"

It was written by Dr. Peter Barss,

napisao je dr. Peter Barss

who is Canadian.

koji je Kanađanin.

Dr. Barss came to the ceremony

Dr. Barss došao je na dodjelu nagrada

and explained that as a young doctor,

i objasnio da je kao mladi doktor

he wanted to see the world.

htio vidjeti svijeta,

So he went to Papua New Guinea.

pa je otputovao u Papuu Novu Gvineju.

When he got there, he went to work in a hospital, and he was curious

Stigavši tamo, radio je u bolnici i zanimalo ga je

what kinds of things happen to people that bring them to the hospital.

zbog čega to ljudi završavaju u bolnici.

He looked through the records, and he discovered

Prošao je spise i otkrio

that a surprisingly large number of people

da je iznenađujuće velik broj ljudi

in that hospital were there

u toj bolnici zaprimljen

because of injuries due to falling coconuts.

zbog ozljeda uzrokovanih padajućim kokosima.

One typical thing that happens is

Uobičajena stvar koja se događa jest

people will come from the highlands, where there are not many coconut trees,

da ljudi dolaze iz brdovitih krajeva, u kojima nema toliko palmi kokosa,

down to visit their relatives on the coast,

kako bi posjetili rodbinu na obali,

where there are lots.

gdje ih ima puno

And they'll think that a coconut tree

i misle da je kokosova palma

is a fine place to stand and maybe lie down.

prikladno mjesto ispod kojega se može stati ili leći.

A coconut tree that is 90 feet tall,

Kokosova palma visoka je oko 27 metara,

and has coconuts that weigh two pounds

a s nje vise kokosi težine oko jednog kilograma

that can drop off at any time.

koji mogu pasti u bilo kojem trenutku.

A team of doctors in Europe

Tim doktora iz Europe

published a series of papers about colonoscopies.

objavio je niz članaka o kolonoskopiji.

You're all familiar with colonoscopies,

Svi ste upoznati s njima,

one way or another.

na ovaj ili onaj način.

Or in some cases,

U nekim slučajevima

one way and another.

i na ovaj i na onaj način.

They, in these papers,

Tim doktora u svojim je člancima

explained to their fellow doctors who perform colonoscopies,

objasnio kolegama koji obavljaju kolonoskopije

how to minimize the chance

kako minimalizirati mogućnost

that when you perform a colonoscopy,

da vam za vrijeme obavljanja kolonoskopije,

your patient will explode. (Laughter)

pacijent eksplodira. (Smijeh)

Dr. Emmanuel Ben-Soussan

Dr. Emmanuel Ben-Soussan,

one of the authors,

jedan od autora,

flew in from Paris to the ceremony,

na dodjelu nagrada doletio je iz Pariza

where he explained the history of this,

gdje je objašnjavao povijest toga

that in the 1950s,

koja glasi: 50-ih godina

when colonoscopies were becoming a common technique for the first time,

kada su kolonoskopije po prvi put postajale uobičajena tehnika,

people were figuring out how to do it well.

ljudi su pokušavali odgonetnuti kako da je dobro obave.

And there were some difficulties at first.

U početku su nailazili na poteškoće.

The basic problem, I'm sure you're familiar with,

Osnovni problem, a siguran sam da ste upoznati s njim,

that you're looking inside a long, narrow, dark place.

jest taj što gledate u dugačak, uzak, mračan prostor,

And so, you want to have a larger space.

pa da dobijete veći prostor

You add some gas to inflate it

dodate malo plina da ga napuhnete

so you have room to look around.

da imate prostora za razgledavanje.

Now, that's added to the gas, the methane gas,

Metan se dodaje

that's already inside.

plinu koji je već unutra.

The gas that they used at first, in many cases, was oxygen.

Isprva su uobičavali koristiti kisik,

So they added oxygen to methane gas.

pa su ga dodavali metanu.

And then they wanted to be able to see,

Htjeli su moći vidjeti.

they needed light,

Trebalo im je svjetlo,

so they'd put in a light source,

pa su stavili izvor svjetla

which in the 1950s was very hot.

koji je 50-ih bio jako vruć.

So you had methane gas, which is flammable,

Dakle, imate zapaljivi plin metan,

oxygen and heat.

kisik i toplinu.

They stopped using oxygen pretty quickly. (Laughter)

Brzo su prestali koristiti kisik. (Smijeh)

Now it's rare that patients will explode,

Sada pacijenti rijetko eksplodiraju,

but it does still happen.

ali zna se dogoditi.

The final thing that I want to tell you about is a prize

Zadnja stvar o kojoj vam želim ispričati jest nagrada

we gave to Dr. Elena Bodnar.

koju smo dali dr. Eleni Bodnar.

Dr. Elena Bodnar invented a brassiere

Ona je izumila grudnjak

that in an emergency

koji se u slučaju nužde

can be quickly separated

može brzo rastaviti

into a pair of protective face masks.

na par zaštitnih maski za lice.

One to save your life,

Jedna za spašavanje vlastitog života,

one to save the life of some lucky bystander. (Laughter)

a jedna za spašavanje života nekog sretnog slučajnog promatrača. (Smijeh)

Why would someone do this, you might wonder.

Pitate se zašto bi to netko učinio?

Dr. Bodnar came to the ceremony

Dr. Bodnar na dodjeli nagrada

and she explained that she grew up in Ukraine.

objasnila je da je odrasla u Ukrajini.

She was one of the doctors who treated victims

Sudjelovala je u liječenju žrtava

of the Chernobyl power plant meltdown.

černobilske nesreće.

And they later discovered that

Kasnije su otkrili

a lot of the worst medical problems

da je dosta najgorih medicinskih problema

came from the particles people breathed in.

uzrokovano česticama koje su ljudi udisali.

So she was always thinking after that

Poslije toga uvijek je pitala

about could there be some simple mask

postoji li neka jednostavna maska

that was available everywhere when the unexpected happens.

koja bi svugdje bila dostupna u slučaju neočekivanoga.

Years later, she moved to America.

Kasnije se preselila u Ameriku.

She had a baby,

Rodila.

One day she looked, and on the floor,

Jednog dana na podu je ugledala

her infant son had picked up her bra,

svog sina kako podiže njezin grudnjak s poda

and had her bra on his face.

i stavlja ga na lice.

And that's where the idea came from.

Odatle joj ideja.

She came to the Ig Nobel ceremony

Na dodjelu je došla

with the first prototype of the bra

S prvim prototipom grudnjaka

and she demonstrated:

i demonstrirala njegovu upotrebu.

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Smijeh) (Pljesak)

["Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate (2008) in economics"]

["Paul Krugman, Nobelov laureat (2008) iz ekonomije"]

["Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel laureate (2001) in physics"]

["Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobelov laureat (2001) iz fizike"]

I myself own an emergency bra. (Laughter)

I sam imam grudnjak za hitne slučajeve. (Smijeh)

It's my favorite bra,

To mi je omiljeni grudnjak,

but I would be happy to share it with any of you,

ali rado ću ga podijeliti s bilo kim od vas

should the need arise.

ukaže li se potreba.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)