Residents and travelers to California can already visit cannabis dispensaries to buy legal weed. They can even consume their purchases on-site, but usually in an environment more akin to a pharmacy than a relaxing hangout.

But an Amsterdam-style café experience – complete with coffee and snacks served alongside legal weed – could be in the offing throughout the state.

Assembly Bill 374 is waiting on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature to become law. It passed the California Senate in a 33-to-3 vote and the Assembly in a final vote of 66 to 9 on Monday.

Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who authored the bill, framed the issue around tax revenues.

“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” Haney said in a news release this week. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music. There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health, or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal.”

What the cannabis bill allows – and what it doesn’t

If a host of state regulations and requirements are met, the bill permits the following:

• Preparation or sale of noncannabis food or beverage products (such as pastries and coffee) at licensed dispensaries.
• Live musical or other performances on the premises.

However, there are restrictions the state has put in place in the bill. They include:

• Access to the area where cannabis consumption is allowed would be restricted to people 21 or older.
• The pot consumption can’t be within view of a public area.
• Sales of alcohol or tobacco won’t be permitted on the premises.
• Coffee shops will not be allowed to sell cannabis.

If Newsom signs the bill, it would go into effect in January 2024. Local jurisdictions would still have the authority to regulate the businesses.

The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported that the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network opposes the bill and is urging Newsom to use his veto power.

“Allowing marijuana smoking in public places and expanding where smoking is allowed undermines the effectiveness of California’s smoke-free law and compromises its enforcement,” the group’s legislative director, Autumn Ogden-Smith, said in a statement reported in the paper.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin – the Russian mercenary leader whose plane crashed weeks after he led a mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership – shows what happens when people make deals with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“When you want to have a compromise or a dialogue with somebody, you cannot do it with a liar,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.

He said when Putin understood that a big part of society supported Prigozhin, “he killed him. But before he killed, he gave him promises, the territory of Belorussia (Belarus), gave him new locations, the Africa issues and businesses, a lot of different things.”

The Wagner leader’s dramatic death, which followed a short-lived rebellion that threatened the authority of the Russian president, was a warning to be heeded, Zelensky suggested.

While the United States and other key Ukrainian allies continue to supply weapons to Kyiv, and stress that conditions to pursue a “just and durable” peace are not yet in place, a handful of world leaders, such as Brazil’s Lula Da Silva, have put the onus on Ukraine to end the war.

As evidence for his position, Zelensky cited other countries which have been attacked by Russian soldiers and continue to be partially occupied by them.

“Did you see any compromise from Putin on other issues? With Georgia? With Moldova?” Zelensky asked rhetorically.

Ukraine has made incremental gains in the south amid fierce fighting with Russian troops, accounts from the front lines suggest.

Geolocated videos on Friday showed a wasteland of shell holes, abandoned trenches and wrecked military hardware in the area between Robotyne, Verbove and Novoprokopivka — a triangle of villages that hold the key for Ukrainians to getting closer to Tokmak, an important hub for Russian defenses.

“The result we need, we have to get our land,” said Zelensky. “And it’s also not about the land, it’s about the people because the frozen war is not the peace.”

“Putin – he wants to take all our country, to destroy all our families, houses. Because if— he understands — why he destroy? He understands that Ukraine will never go back, go away from our land. We’ll never do it. That’s why he has to kill us,” he added.

He added that his children are in Ukraine and that they are “very Ukrainian” and he is “happy” they are there, before going on to suggest he looks at the future of Ukraine optimistically.

Zelensky contrasted the youthful energy of his wife and children with his own aging: “This generation will make Ukraine, I think, great because they — they are very strong with all their positions, with all their values, with all — you know, they’re very free. And I’m so happy. Then I — look, like I said, I’m looking into the mirror. I see another person, older,” he said.

“My wife… She’s nice. She’s so strong. She’s — day by day, she is stronger and nicer and younger. She has a lot of energy,” he added.

A NASA astronaut on her inaugural spaceflight and two cosmonauts launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft toward the International Space Station Friday, marking the first time Russia has launched astronauts to the orbiting outpost in nearly a year.

The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. ET and began a quick, three-hour trajectory to rendezvous with the space station.

The crew on board includes NASA’s Loral O’Hara, a former research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts who was selected to the NASA astronaut corps in 2017. Flying alongside her are two Russian colleagues, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.

Once at the space station, the group will prepare to take over operations from a trio of crew members that have been on the space station for nearly a year after launching aboard the Soyuz MS-22 vehicle.

That spacecraft sprang a coolant leak in December 2022, which officials from NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, later said was caused by an external impact — likely a piece of space debris striking the vehicle’s exterior as it was docked with the ISS.

Roscosmos determined that the MS-22 was not safe enough to carry a crew home and launched a replacement spacecraft in February. That left the MS-22 crew stuck on the orbiting laboratory while Roscosmos prepared another vehicle to resume regular crew rotations.

The MS-22 crew includes NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, whose unexpected extended stay in space broke the US record for the most consecutive days in orbit earlier this month.

After O’Hara, Kononenko and Chub arrive and take over operations, Rubio and his crewmates are expected to make their long-awaited return to Earth as soon as September 27. That would give Rubio a total of 371 days in space, besting the previous record by more than two weeks. (The late Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who logged 437 continuous days in orbit, still holds the global record for the longest mission in space.)

Rubio will also become the first American astronaut to spend a full calendar year in space.

Rubio — and now O’Hara — traveled aboard Russian Soyuz vehicles as part of crew-swapping agreement between NASA and Roscosmos that was hashed out in the summer of 2022. In exchange, NASA’s ISS transportation partner, SpaceX, has included Russian cosmonauts on its flights to the ISS.

Despite geopolitical tensions between the United States and Russia as the war in Ukraine has escalated, NASA has repeatedly said its partnership with Roscosmos is vital to continuing the space station’s operations and the valuable scientific research carried out on board.

The most recent SpaceX flight arrived at the space station in August, carrying astronauts from NASA, Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.

Carla Vall, lawyer for Spanish soccer star Jennifer Hermoso, reiterated that the kiss by ex-Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales to her client after the Women’s World Cup final was non-consensual.

Rubiales was in court on Friday to testify after being summoned by the presiding judge to aid in the court’s investigation into potential charges of sexual assault and coercion against him.

The Spanish Prosecutor’s office said Rubiales answered questions from the judge and all parties and denied the charges.

Later on Friday, the judge gave Rubiales a restraining order to not go within 200 meters of Hermoso, nor communicate with her during the court’s investigation.

“The whole world could see it was not consensual. That’s what we’ll show,” Vall said after leaving the National Court in the capital of Madrid.

“it’s just the beginning of the investigation at court,” Vall added.

Rubiales entered the court on Friday morning with his lawyer, Olga Tubau, and made no comment to the media.

Earlier this week, the National Court announced it had admitted a complaint made against Rubiales by Spanish prosecutors for sexual assault and coercion.

The hearing lasted just under an hour and was closed to the media, but local and international crews had been waiting outside the court.

Rubiales resigned from his position on Sunday following weeks of pressure from all spheres of Spanish society.

How we got here

It all began when video from the World Cup medal ceremony on August 20 showed Rubiales embracing Hermoso, then putting both hands on her head before forcibly kissing her. He then patted her on the back as she walked away.

Later, Hermoso said of the kiss, “Hey, I didn’t like it, eh,” as she apparently answered questions about the incident in an Instagram live video from a celebratory locker room.

It would be several days, on August 25, before Hermoso spoke out again on social media after Rubiales defiantly refused to step down as RFEF president, saying, “I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part … Simply put, I was not respected.”

More than 80 Spanish soccer players then put their name on a statement supporting Hermoso and saying they would not return to the national team “if the current leaders continue” in their posts.

Interim RFEF president Pedro Rocha then began to make moves as part of his “regeneration” of the federation, firing controversial coach Jorge Vilda and appointing his deputy, Montse Tomé. Rocha then vowed in a meeting with the president of the High Council of Sport, Víctor Francos, to make more “structural changes” in RFEF.

The vast majority of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad says it will refuse to be called up for the country’s two upcoming Women’s Nations League matches as it continues to push for “real structural changes” in Spanish soccer, following the fallout from ex-soccer boss Luis Rubiales’ unwanted kiss on La Roja star Jennifer Hermoso.

For nearly a month, Spain has been rocked by the incident between ex-Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Rubiales and Hermoso, which has overshadowed the team’s historic victory.

Spain was due to announce a squad for its next two matches on Friday but has now postponed the decision after 39 players, including 21 of the 23-woman World Cup squad, signed a joint letter condemning RFEF.

“As of today, as we have communicated to RFEF, the changes which have been made are not enough so that the players feel in a safe place, where women are respected, women’s football is supported and where we can give our all,” the letter said, which was posted by two-time Ballon d’Or Féminin winner Alexia Putellas on X, formerly Twitter.

“We wish to end this statement expressing that the players of the Spanish women’s national team are professional players, and what most fills us with pride is putting on the shirt of the national team and always taking our country to the highest places.

“Because of that, we believe it is the moment to fight to show that these situations and practices have no place in our football or in our society, that the current structure needs change and we are doing this so that the next generations can have a much more equal football and one at the level which we all deserve.”

More change needed

The latest development comes after more than 80 Spanish soccer players – including all of Spain’s 2023 World Cup squad – had put their name on a letter supporting Hermoso on August 25, originally saying they would not return to the national team “if the current leaders continue” in their posts and if there wasn’t “real structural changes” to the federation.

As a result, interim RFEF president Pedro Rocha began to make moves as part of his “regeneration” of the federation, firing controversial coach Jorge Vilda despite Spain’s unprecedented World Cup win and appointing his deputy, Montse Tomé – the first woman to take over the role. Rocha then vowed in a meeting with the president of the High Council of Sport, Víctor Francos, to make more “structural changes” in RFEF.

The announcement from the players is bound to leave Tomé struggling to field a competitive team against Sweden and Switzerland on September 22 and 26.

The development comes after Rubiales testified in Spain’s National Court in Madrid on Friday morning after being summoned by the presiding judge to aid in the court’s investigation into potential charges of sexual assault and coercion against him.

Rubiales resigned from his position on Sunday following weeks of pressure from all spheres of Spanish society and has now been handed a restraining order and told not to go within 200 meters of Hermoso.

A United Airlines flight bound for Rome returned to New Jersey just after midnight Thursday “to address a possible loss of cabin pressure,” according to a statement from the airline.

Data from the tracking site FlightAware show the plane rapidly descended over about 8 minutes from 37,000 feet at 10:07 p.m. to just below 9,000 feet at 10:15 p.m. Pilots will often quickly descend to lower altitudes when there is a concern about the plane’s pressurization.

United Airlines Flight 510 returned safely to Newark Liberty International Airport around 12:25 a.m. ET on Thursday after the crew reported a “pressurization issue,” according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Boeing 777 flight, with 270 passengers and 14 crew members, landed safely and never lost cabin pressure, United Airlines said.

Customers were taken to their destination on another aircraft, United added.

A collection of tombs from Korea’s ancient Gaya confederacy, a Viking age ring fortress in Denmark, an ancient Thai town and a 2,000-year-old earthworks in Ohio are among the contenders for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List this year.

Following much deliberation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is shortly expected to announce which sites have been given the honor of a place on its list of World Heritage Sites.

This year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is reviewing nominations from both 2022 and 2023, with participants from across the world attending the session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to examine almost 50 contenders.

‘Outstanding universal value’

This year’s meeting comes 45 years after UNESCO designated its first ever World Heritage Sites, when both the United States’ Yellowstone National Park and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands secured a spot on the coveted list.

According to UNESCO, sites must be of “outstanding universal value” to be included on the World Heritage List.

In order to qualify, a site has to meet at least one of a specific list of criteria, which is “regularly revised by the committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.”

The nomination process can extend over years, and if a landmark is omitted during one year, it can be examined again when the next UNESCO convention comes around.

Once a landmark is given UNESCO World Heritage status, the country or nation it’s based in can receive financial assistance, as well as expert advice from UNESCO to help preserve the site.

So far, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed approximately 1,157 sites in 167 different countries onto the World Heritage List.

The contenders

Only those countries that sign the convention creating the World Heritage Committee and list are permitted to nominate sites.

While this consisted of around 40 countries when the nominations were introduced, it has since grown to 195 nations.

Gaya Tumuli, made up of seven tomb clusters from Korea’s ancient Gaya confederacy, is one of the many highlights from the 50 sites nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List this year.

The cone-shaped burial mounds, which extend across the hills of Goryeong, would be the 16th site in South Korea to be added to the list if chosen.

Encompassing an area of 830 square miles, the incredible landscape of Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains National Park is also a strong contender.

Situated 240 miles southeast of Addis Ababa, the park encompasses an area of 830 square miles, including the Sanetti Plateau, which is home to the Ethiopian wolf – the world’s rarest canid.

Meanwhile, Gordion, the capital city of ancient Phrygia in Turkey has also been nominated under the “cultural properties” section.

With an illustrious history dating back to the Early Bronze Age in 3000 B.C.E., Gordion holds around 90 pyramid-shaped mounds, the largest believed to be the tomb of ancient king Midas.

Other treasures on the consideration list include:

Viking-Age Ring Fortresses, Denmark: The ruins of ancient fortifications and dwellings believed to date back more than 1,000 years.

Andrefana Dry Forests, Madagascar: Highly unusual landscapes of flora and fauna, including lemurs, that are found only on Madagascar.

The Ancient Town of Si Thep, Thailand: The ruins of an ancient city that once grew into a powerful local state.

The Maison Carrée of Nîmes, France: The “Square House” Roman temple is one of the best-preserved relics of the Roman empire’s rule over southern France.

Uruq Bani Ma’arid, Saudi Arabia: The western edge of the Ar-Rub‘ al-Khali, or Empty Quarter, is one of the world’s most spectacular sandy deserts and home to rare Arabian oryx.

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio: These gigantic ceremonial structures date back up to 2,000 years, with some believed to be used as lunar or astral observatories.

Historic center of Gorokhovets, Russia: This small medieval town in Vladimir Oblast, Russia is home to the Gorokhovets Historical and Architectural Museum.

Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt, Germany: The Old Synagogue, which holds a Jewish ritual bath known as mikveh, and the gravestones of the medieval Jewish community are among the many examples of significant Jewish-Medieval heritage in the city of Erfurt, Germany.

Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar, Cambodia: A former capital of the Khmer Empire, this 10th century temple complex in northern Cambodia features an iconic seven-stepped pyramid, known as Prang.

Kuldīga, formerly Goldingen, in Courland, Latvia: This charming town in the Courland region of Latvia is known for its pretty old town and red-brick bridge.

Modernist Kaunas: Architecture of Optimism, 1919-1939, Lithuania

National Archaeological Park Tak’alik Ab’aj, Guatemala

Santiniketan, India

Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor, Tajikistan

Talayotic Menorca, Spain

The Gedeo Cultural Landscape, Ethiopia

The Persian Caravanserai, Iran

Tr’ondëk-Klondike, Canada

Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, Czech Republic

Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua, Congo

Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelée and the Pitons of Northern Martinique, France

Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba, Benin

Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago, Vietnam

Hyrcanian Forests, Iran/Azerbaijan

Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan, Palestinian Territories

Astronomical Observatories of Kazan Federal University, Russia

Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route, Azerbaijan

Djerba: cultural landscape, Tunisia

ESMA Museum and Site of Memory – Former Clandestine Center of Detention, Torture and Extermination, Argentina

Funerary and memory sites of the First World War Western Front, Belgium/France

Jodensavanne Archaeological Site, Suriname

Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium, Netherlands

Medieval Mosques of Anatolia with Wooden Posts and Upper Structure, Turkey

Memorial sites of the Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero, Rwanda

Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, India

The Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta and its Historic Landmarks, Indonesia

The Cultural Landscape of Masouleh, Iran

Anticosti, Canada

Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Cold Winter Deserts of Turan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Apennines, Italy

Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda

Tugay forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, Tajikistan

Highlands of the Mongolian Altai, Mongolia

Zagori Cultural Landscape, Greece

Historic Center of Guimarães and Couros Zone, Portugal

South Africa’s viniculture industry employs around 270,000 people, producing some of the world’s most sought-after wines. But not all jobs are best left to humans. In some cases, it’s better to get your ducks in a row – and then put them to work.

Outside Cape Town on the banks of the Eerste river, Vergenoegd Löw The Wine Estate has repurposed a centuries-old practice by marshaling a battalion of ducks to keep its vineyard free of pests.

Inspired by ducks used to remove pests from rice paddies in Asia, the winery calls on the services of some 1,600 ducks as part of its effort to make wine production more sustainable.

“I call our ducks the soldiers of our vineyards,” says managing director Corius Visser. “They will eat aphids, they will eat snails, they will eat small worms – they keep (it) completely pest-free.”

The species, the Indian runner duck, is flightless, with a peculiarly upright stance and highly developed sense of smell. The duck troops are cajoled on a 14-day circuit through the vineyard, eating and fertilizing the ground as they go.

The ducks’ “annual leave” takes place during the harvest (they’d eat the grapes). During this time they forage on open farm pasture, swim in a nearby lake and undergo selective breeding, says Visser.

Duck eggs are consumed in the vineyard restaurant, but never the ducks themselves – “that would be like eating a colleague,” Gavin Moyes, the estate’s tasting room manager, said in a 2020 interview.

“The world is moving away from more conventional farming to (being) a bit more organic,” Visser explains. “For Vergenoegd, it’s a big goal … to have less influence on the Earth, the soil and the environment.” Other sustainable initiatives include an extensive solar power plant and a 25-hectare wetland conservation area on the farm.

Vergenoegd Löw’s ingenious pest control system has been deployed since the 1980s, but the fowl-based feeding frenzy could soon be spreading its wings.

As a pioneering winemaker with industry clout – vines have being grown on the estate since the late 17th century – Vergenoegd Löw is hoping to convince others to adopt its approach. Visser says the vineyard plans to sell 750 ducks to other vineyards and replenish numbers by breeding the birds. “We can be in a position where we say that we have (not just) the best runner ducks in South Africa, but also the world,” Visser argues.

“I think the industry itself has the potential to engage more in experimental ways,” he adds. That requires money, and increasing the price point of South African wines in the world market could help fund Vergenoegd Löw and other vineyards’ green initiatives.

“If we can achieve that, we can then put back some of that (income) into our people, into our land, and become more sustainable,” Visser says.

They’d be quackers not to.

To see other animals with jobs, scroll through the gallery above.

The United Arab Emirates foiled an attempt to smuggle 13 tonnes of the addictive amphetamine captagon – worth more than $1 billion – hidden in a shipment of doors and decorative building panels, the country’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Thursday.

The Dubai Police said it arrested six people who were part of an “international criminal cartel,” in what it said was “one of the largest smuggling operations of captagon tablets in the world.”

The pills were hidden using “innovative smuggling methods,” concealed within 432 pieces of high-end furniture panels and 651 professionally crafted doors made from iron and wood, the interior ministry said, adding that extracting the tablets took “days.”

The UAE “stands as an impenetrable fortress against any threat aimed at jeopardizing the security and well-being of the Emirati society,” Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a statement on Twitter on Thursday.

A surveillance video shared by the interior ministry on Thursday shows the suspects attempting to bring the captagon tablets through Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port.

UAE authorities have seized hundreds of thousands of captagon pills since 2019. In June of this year, the Abu Dhabi Customs said it had seized nearly 175,000 pills between the start of 2019 and May this year.

Captagon was originally the brand name for a medicinal product containing the synthetic stimulant fenethylline. Though it is no longer produced legally, counterfeit drugs carrying the captagon name are regularly seized in the Middle East, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

Experts say the vast majority of global captagon production occurs in Syria, with the Gulf region being its primary destination.

The growth of the industry has raised alarms in the international community. Last year, the US introduced the 2022 US Captagon Act, which linked the trade to the Syrian regime and called it a “transnational security threat.”

How do you feel when you read the same word many, many, many times? Do people have an equal number of hairs in both their nostrils? Does electrifying your tongue change the taste of the food you are eating?

The scientists who researched these questions are among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes – an accolade that has no affiliation to the Nobel Prizes – which aim to “celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.”

The Ig Nobel Prize’s 33rd ceremony took place virtually on Thursday night, with prizes awarded by “genuine, genuinely bemused” Nobel laureates over Zoom. Each winner received a (now defunct) 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill and a pack of “Ig Pseudo Cola.”

Winners of the prizes represented 22 countries, including five researchers from the United States, four from the United Kingdom, and three from China.

Geologist Jan Zalasiewicz won the coveted Chemistry and Geology Prize for his research into why many scientists like to lick rocks. According to Zalasiewicz, scientists lick rocks as it is easier to tell its type when it is wet. The researcher demonstrated this scientific approach by licking a 400 million-year-old trilobite during his online acceptance speech.

The Literature Prize went to a team of researchers who were offered “congratulations and congratulations and congratulations and congratulations and congratulations” for their research into “jamais vu,” the experience of finding a familiar thing unfamiliar, in the repetition of language. The researchers found that about two-thirds of people reported feeling “peculiar” when they repeated the same word about 30 times.

A team from Rice University in Texas won the Mechanical Engineering Prize for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools, able to grasp objects up to 130% of their own weight.

The Medicine Prize was awarded for research into how many nose hairs are in each of a person’s nostrils. Using dead bodies in their investigation, the winning team found that there are around 120 nose hairs in the average person’s left nostril, and 112 in their right. This work will be used to investigate how the immune systems of people with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss, are affected by a lack of nose hairs.

Research into brain activity when a person speaks backward won the Ig Nobel Communication Prize, while the Public Health Prize was awarded to urologist Seung-min Park, who invented the Stanford Toilet, a device that analyzes excrement, recognizing users by their “analprint” – an identifier as unique as a fingerprint, apparently.

Japanese scientists Homei Miyashita and Hiromi Nakamura won the Nutrition Prize for their research into how electrification can affect the taste of food, finding that it increased users’ perception of saltiness.

American psychologists Stanley Milgram, Leonard Bickman and Lawrence Berkowitz won the Psychology Prize for investigating how members of a crowd looked up if they saw other people doing so, while the Education Prize was awarded for research into how teachers’ boredom affects the boredom of students in a classroom.

Finally, the Physics Prize went to a team who investigated how the sexual activity of anchovies impacts ocean-water mixing and the global circulation of ocean currents.

The ceremony was accompanied by mini-non-opera songs (songs with no plot, sung in an operatic way) about water, as well as an annual paper plane throwing event.

The researchers will have the opportunity to meet one another at a companion Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event in Cambridge, Massachusetts in November. More songs and paper planes are expected.