The Ig Nobel prizes were awarded last night. The winners ranged from the practical (Kuo Cheng Hsieh for inventing a device that stops robbers in their tracks by dropping a net on them), to the icky (Johanna E.M.H. von Bronswijk for surveying insects, microbes and algae in people’s beds), to the hilarious (Brian Witcombe and Dan Meyer for their studies on the side effects of sword swallowing) and the disturbing: a US Army research lab has been working on a “gay bomb”, a chemical weapon that would make male soldiers attracted to each other (what?!).

A Harvard physicist won the physics prize for studying how sheets wrinkle.

We ran a feature yesterday that took a closer look at the people behind the Ig Nobels. It mentions that in honor of the chemistry award winner, Toscanini’s is offering free samples of a new ice cream flavor it developed, starting today at 11am. Nothing like free ice cream on this summer-y day.