A Unipd research among the 2025 Ig Nobel Winners, celebrating bizarre but thought-provoking studies
19.09.2025
We've discovered the scientifically perfect, lump-free recipe for cacio e pepe... and we've been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics for it!
The Ig Nobel Prizes are parody awards of the Nobel Prizes, given each year to unusual or whimsical scientific studies “that first make you laugh, then make you think.”
The study on the perfect cacio e pepe was published in April in the international scientific journal Physics of Fluids. The article, titled Phase behavior of Cacio e Pepe sauce, was authored by Davide Revignas and Daniel Maria Busiello from the University of Padua, Giacomo Bartolucci from the University of Barcelona, Fabrizio Olmeda from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, and Matteo Ciarchi, Ivan Di Terlizzi, Vincenzo Maria Schimmenti, and Alberto Corticelli from the Max Planck Institute in Dresden.
The aim of the research was to deepen the understanding of fluid dynamics and, on a practical level, “to avoid wasting good pecorino cheese.”
The international research team received the award at Boston University, during a ceremony organized by the humorous scientific journal Annals of Improbable Research.
The Ig Nobel Prize for Literature went to American physician William B. Bean, who monitored the growth of his thumbnail for 35 years.
Other prizes were awarded to international researchers for studies in:
Psychology: how a person's level of narcissism changes when they’re told they are intelligent;
Pediatricsng>: cows were painted with zebra-like stripes to see if it would protect them from insect bites;
Chemistry: whether eating Teflon increases the feeling of fullness without causing weight gain;
Engineering: how the smell of stinky shoes affects the use of shoe cabinets.
The Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a research team from Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands for demonstrating that drinking alcohol can improve foreign language speaking skills.
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