Sarah's Shiny Science: I can't believe it's not the Nobel Prize

Welcome to the first Sarah's Shiny Science column. Every Wednesday I'll be bringing you the latest news from the weird and wonderful world of science. Right, with introductions over, let's get on with the column.

It's Nobel Prize time again and the worthy winners are being announced throughout the week. So far, three scientists have shared the prize for medicine for discovering the viruses that cause Aids and cervical cancer. And the prize for physics has gone to three researchers for their work on the building blocks of matter, called subatomic particles. The discovery of a protein that glows green, which is being used to study Alzheimer's disease and the spread of cancers, has netted the chemistry prize.

But before you start berating yourself for a lack of personal accomplishment this year, take a look at how some of the world's brainiest boffins have wasted their smarts after the jump...

If you've not heard about it before, let me introduce you to the Ig Nobel Prize, which is awarded for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think why did they bother?"

Gong-winning research this year included a study that showed fleas on dogs jump higher than on cats, and another which proved the old wives' tale that Coca Cola is an effective spermicide is true. But *don't* try this at home - the prize was actually shared with a group of researchers that showed Coca Cola is useless as a spermicide. Well that's helpful.

Other winners included scientists who showed that when wires move around in your pocket or bag they will inevitably get tangled up in knots. It's complicated to grasp, I know, but the breakthrough can actually be described in one elegant equation:

Long wire + rummaging in handbag = several mins until I can listen to my iPod

I know what you're thinking - this research must have been printed in the journal of the bleedin' obvious. Actually, it was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In fact, all of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning work made it into bona fide scientific journals. Maybe they just wanted a bit of light reading to break up the difficult stuff?