Japanese doctor wins spoof Ig Nobel award for study showing how kissing can be natural allergy relief

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A couple kiss during the spoof Ig Nobel medicine prize ceremony at Harvard University. Japanese scientist Hajime Kimata received the prize jointly with three Slovakian scientists for a study that revealed kissing could reduce allergic reactions in humans. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 8:00pm, 20 Sep 2015Updated: 11:00pm, 20 Sep 2015

A Japanese scientist has won the spoof Ig Nobel medicine prize for a study that revealed kissing could reduce allergic reactions in humans.

“I wish that people will understand the new effect of kissing and I also hope that kissing will bring not only love but also attenuation of allergic reaction,” Hajime Kimata, who could not attend last week’s 25th annual event, said in a videotaped acceptance speech.

“I am honoured to be awarded the Ig Nobel Prize and I appreciate it very much.”

Bruno Grossi walks like a dinosaur as he and his team accept the Ig Nobel Prize in Biology for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, it then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked. Photo: Reuters

Kimata received the prize jointly with three Slovakian scientists who also studied the “medical effects of kissing.” The Slovakian group looked at how long male DNA stays in a woman’s mouth after “intense kissing.”

After the medical award was announced, some couples in the audience, prompted by the master of ceremonies, responded by embracing and kissing each other.

The award ceremony - which the science humour magazine “Annals of Improbable Research” gives in 10 categories as a parody of the Nobel Prizes - was held at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. It was the ninth straight year for an Ig Nobel prize to go to Japanese recipients.