ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Abrahams - Science humorist
Marc Abrahams writes about research that makes people laugh, and then think.

Why you should listen
Author and newspaper columnist Marc Abrahams is the editor of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research. In this hilarious talk, he shares thought-provoking stories behind some of the winners of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.
More profile about the speaker
Marc Abrahams | Speaker | TED.com
TEDMED 2014

Marc Abrahams: A science award that makes you laugh, then think

Marc Abrahams: Un premio científico que primeiro che fai rir, e despois pensar

Filmed:
1,534,520 views

Como fundador dos Premios Ig Nobel, Marc Abrahams explora as investigacións máis improbables do mundo. Nesta suxestiva (e por veces divertida) charla, describe investigacións científicas verdadeiramente tolas, e explica que a tolería é crucial para atraer a atención do público pola ciencia.
- Science humorist
Marc Abrahams writes about research that makes people laugh, and then think. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
George and Charlotte Blonsky, who were
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George e Charlotte Blonsky, que eran
00:20
a married couple living in
the Bronx in New York City,
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un matrimonio residente no Bronx
en Nova York,
00:23
invented something.
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inventaron algo.
00:24
They got a patent in
1965 for what they call,
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Conseguiron unha patente en 1965
para o que eles denominaron
00:28
"a device to assist women in giving birth."
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"un aparello para asistir
a mulleres no parto."
00:34
This device consists of a large, round table
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Este aparello consiste nunha
gran mesa redonda
00:38
and some machinery.
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e algún dispositivos mecánicos.
00:40
When the woman is ready to deliver her child,
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Cando a muller está lista para dar a luz,
00:43
she lies on her back,
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deitase,
00:44
she is strapped down to the table,
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é amarrada á mesa,
00:47
and the table is rotated at high speed.
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que se pon a xirar a gran velocidade.
00:50
The child comes flying out
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O neno sae voando
(Risos)
00:53
through centrifugal force.
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grazas á forza centrífuga.
(Risos)
01:01
If you look at their patent carefully,
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Se mirades detidamente a súa patente,
01:06
especially if you have any
engineering background or talent,
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especialmente se tedes formación
ou coñecementos en enxeñaría,
01:10
you may decide that you see
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podedes concluír que vedes
01:11
one or two points where the design is
not perfectly adequate. (Laughter)
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un ou dous puntos onde o deseño
non é apropiado de todo.
(Risos)
01:18
Doctor Ivan Schwab in California
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O Dr. Ivan Schwach en California
01:21
is one of the people,
one of the main people,
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é unha das persoas que foron esenciais
para axudar a responder a pregunta
01:22
who helped answer the question,
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01:24
"Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?"
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"Por que aos picapaus
non lles doe a cabeza?"
01:30
And it turns out the answer to that
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E resulta que a resposta
01:31
is because their brains
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é que os seus cerebros
01:33
are packaged inside their skulls
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están colocados nos seus cranios
01:35
in a way different from the way
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dun modo diferente
01:37
our brains, we being human beings,
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a como os seres humanos
01:40
true, have our brains packaged.
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temos empaquetados os nosos cerebros.
01:44
They, the woodpeckers, typically
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Os picapaus, normalmente,
01:46
will peck, they will bang their head
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petan, e baten coa cabeza
01:49
on a piece of wood thousands
of times every day. Every day!
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contra un toro de madeira
milleiros de veces ao día. Cada día!
01:54
And as far as anyone knows,
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E polo que se sabe,
01:56
that doesn't bother them in the slightest.
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iso non os molesta nin un chisco.
01:57
How does this happen?
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Como ocorre isto?
01:59
Their brain does not slosh around like ours does.
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O seu cerebro non anda abaneando
coma o noso.
02:02
Their brain is packed in very tightly,
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O seu cerebro está empaquetado
de forma moi axustada,
02:05
at least for blows coming
right from the front.
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polo menos para os golpes
que veñen de fronte.
02:08
Not too many people paid attention
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Non moita xente se fixou
02:10
to this research until
the last few years
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nesta investigación ata estes últimos anos
02:13
when, in this country especially,
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cando, neste país sobre todo,
02:15
people are becoming curious about
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está espertando a curiosidade
02:17
what happens to the brains
of football players
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co que ocorre cos cerebros dos
xogadores de fútbol americano
02:19
who bang their heads repeatedly.
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que petan seguido coas súas cabezas.
02:22
And the woodpecker maybe relates to that.
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E o picapau quizais estea
relacionado con isto.
02:27
There was a paper published
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Hai un artigo publicado
02:29
in the medical journal The Lancet
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na revista médica "The Lancet"
en Inglaterra hai uns anos titulado
02:31
in England a few years ago called
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02:32
" A man who pricked his finger
and smelled putrid for 5 years."
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"Un home que picou o dedo e cheiroulle
podre durante 5 anos."
02:39
Dr. Caroline Mills and her team
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A Dra. Caroline Mills e o seu equipo
02:41
received this patient and didn't
really know what to do about it.
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atenderon este paciente e non
souberon que facerlle.
02:45
The man had cut his finger,
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O home cortara o dedo,
02:47
he worked processing chickens,
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traballaba procesando polos,
02:51
and then he started to
smell really, really bad.
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e entón comezou a cheirar moi moi mal.
02:53
So bad that when
he got in a room
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Tan mal que cando entrou na sala
02:54
with the doctors and the nurses,
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cos médicos e enfermeiras,
02:56
they couldn't stand being
in the room with him.
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non podían aturar estar
na sala con el.
02:58
It was intolerable.
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Era insoportable.
03:00
They tried every drug,
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Probaron todas as medicinas,
03:02
every other treatment
they could think of.
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todos os tratamentos
que se lles ocorreron.
03:03
After a year, he still
smelled putrid.
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Despois dun ano, aínda cheiraba a podre.
03:06
After two years, still smelled putrid.
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Despois de dous anos,
aínda cheiraba a podre.
03:08
Three years, four years,
still smelled putrid.
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Tres anos, catro anos,
aínda cheiraba a podre.
03:11
After five years, it went away on its own.
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Despois de cinco anos,
o cheiro marchou el só.
03:14
It's a mystery.
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É un misterio.
03:17
In New Zealand, Dr. Lianne Parkin
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En Nova Zelandia, a Dra. Lianne Parkin
03:20
and her team tested an old
tradition in her city.
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e o seu equipo analizaron
unha vella tradición da súa cidade.
03:25
They live in a city that has huge hills,
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Viven nunha cidade
que ten outeiros enormes,
03:28
San Francisco-grade hills.
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grandes coma os de San Francisco.
03:30
And in the winter there,
it gets very cold
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E alí no inverno vai moito frío,
03:32
and very icy.
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e hai moitas xeadas.
03:33
There are lots of injuries.
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Hai moitas lesións.
03:35
The tradition that they tested,
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A tradición que analizaron,
03:37
they tested by asking people
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analizárona pedíndolle á xente
03:39
who were on their way to
work in the morning,
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que ía para o traballo pola mañá,
03:41
to stop and try something out.
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que pararan e probaran algo.
03:43
Try one of two conditions.
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Probar unha de dúas condicións.
03:45
The tradition is that in the winter,
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A tradición é que no inverno,
03:48
in that city, you wear your socks
on the outside of your boots.
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nesa cidade, levas os calcetíns
por fóra das botas.
03:52
And what they discovered by experiment,
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E o que descubriron co experimento,
03:56
and it was quite graphic when they saw it,
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e foi bastante gráfico cando o viron,
03:58
was that it's true.
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é que era certo.
03:59
That if you wear your socks on the
outside rather than the inside,
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Que se levas os calcetíns por fóra
no canto de por dentro,
04:03
you're much more likely
to survive and not slip and fall.
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é máis probable que sobrevivas
e non esvares nin caias.
04:08
Now, I hope you will agree
with me that these things
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Espero que esteades de acordo
comigo que estas cousas
04:13
I've just described to you,
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que vos acabo de describir,
04:16
each of them, deserves some kind of prize.
(Laughter)
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calquera delas, merecen algún
tipo de premio.
(Risos)
04:22
And that's what they got,
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E conseguírono,
04:23
each of them got an Ig Nobel prize.
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cada un deles ten un Premio Ig Nobel.
04:27
In 1991, I, together with bunch of other people,
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En 1991, eu, con outra morea de xente,
04:31
started the Ig Nobel prize ceremony.
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comezamos a cerimonia dos
Premios Ig Nobel.
04:34
Every year we give out 10 prizes.
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Cada ano damos 10 premios.
04:37
The prizes are based on just
one criteria. It's very simple.
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Os premios están baseados nun só
criterio. É moi sinxelo.
04:44
It's that you've done something that
makes people laugh and then think.
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É que fixeras algo que primeiro
lle faga rir á xente, e despois pensar.
04:49
What you've done makes
people laugh and then think.
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Que o que fixeras lle faga rir á xente
e despois pensar.
04:53
Whatever it is, there's something about it
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Sexa o que sexa, ten un aquel
04:55
that when people encounter it at first,
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que cando a xente se atopa con iso
04:58
their only possible reaction is to laugh.
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a súa única reacción posible é a risa.
05:01
And then a week later,
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E unha semana máis tarde,
05:03
it's still rattling around in their heads
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aínda lle repica na cabeza
05:05
and all they want to do
is tell their friends about it.
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e morre por ir contárllelo
aos amigos.
05:08
That's the quality we look for.
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Velaí a calidade que buscamos.
05:10
Every year, we get in the neighborhood
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Cada ano, andamos ao redor
05:13
of 9,000 new nominations
for the Ig Nobel prize.
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de 9000 novas candidaturas
aos Premios Ig Nobel.
05:17
Of those, consistently between 10 percent
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Delas, entre o 10 por cento
05:20
and 20 percent of those nominations
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e o 20 por cento
05:23
are people who nominate themselves.
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son persoas que se candidatan a si mesmas.
(Risos)
05:26
Those self-nominees almost never win.
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Estes case nunca gañan.
É moi difícil, estatisticamente,
gañar un premio se o queres.
05:30
It's very difficult, numerically,
to win a prize if you want to.
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05:35
Even if you don't want to,
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E incluso se non o queres,
05:37
it's very difficult numerically.
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é moi difícil estatisticamente.
05:39
You should know that when
we choose somebody
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Debedes saber que cando
escollemos unha persoa
05:43
to win an Ig Nobel prize,
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para gañar un Ig Nobel,
05:44
We get in touch with that person, very quietly.
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contactamos con ela discretamente,
05:48
We offer them the chance to decline
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ofrecémoslle a opción de rexeitar
05:50
this great honor if they want to.
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este grande honor, se quere.
05:54
Happily for us, almost everyone
who's offered a prize
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Por sorte para nós, case todos
aos que lles ofrecemos o Premio
05:57
decides to accept.
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deciden aceptalo.
06:01
What do you get if you
win an Ig Nobel prize?
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Que consegues se gañas un
Premio Ig Nobel?
06:03
Well, you get several things.
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Pois varias cousas.
06:05
You get an Ig Nobel prize.
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Consegues un Premio Ig Nobel.
06:09
The design is different every year.
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O deseño é diferente cada ano.
(Risos)
06:11
These are always handmade
from extremely cheap materials.
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Están sempre feitos á man
con materiais sumamente baratos.
06:16
You're looking at a picture
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Estades vendo unha imaxe
06:17
of the prize we gave last year, 2013.
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do premio que entregamos
o ano pasado, 2013.
06:21
Most prizes in the world also give
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A maioría dos premios do mundo tamén dan
06:23
their winners some cash, some money.
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aos gañadores algún diñeiro en efectivo.
06:28
We don't have any money,
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Nós non temos cartos,
06:29
so we can't give them.
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así que non podemos dalos.
06:31
In fact, the winners have to
pay their own way
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De feito, os gañadores deben
pagar do seu peto
06:34
to come to the Ig Nobel ceremony,
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a viaxe á cerimonia dos Ig Nobel,
06:36
which most of them do.
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e a maioría fano.
06:38
Last year, though, we did manage
to scrape up some money.
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O ano pasado, no entanto,
si demos xuntado uns poucos cartos.
06:41
Last year, each of the 10
Ig Nobel prize winners
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Cada un dos 10 gañadores dos Ig Nobel
06:46
received from us 10 trillion dollars.
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recibiron de nós 10 trillóns de dólares.
06:52
A $10 trillion bill from Zimbabwe. (Laughter)
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Un billete de 10 trillóns de dólares
de Zimbabwe.
(Risos)
06:57
You may remember that
Zimbabwe had a little adventure
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Pode que recordedes que Zimbabwe
tivo unha pequena aventura
07:00
for a few years there of inflation.
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de inflación durante uns cantos anos.
07:02
They ended up printing bills
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Acabaron imprimindo billetes
07:04
that were in denominations as
large as 100 trillion dollars.
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con valores nominais tan grandes
como 100 trillóns de dólares.
07:08
The man responsible, who runs
the national bank there, by the way,
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A persoa responsable,
que dirixe o seu banco nacional,
07:11
won an Ig Nobel prize in mathematics.
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gañou o Premio Ig Nobel de matemáticas.
(Risos)
07:13
The other thing you win is an invitation
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A outra cousa que gañas é unha invitación
07:15
to come to the ceremony,
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para vir á cerimonia
que ten lugar na Universidade de Harvard
07:17
which happens at Harvard University.
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07:18
And when you get there,
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E cando estás alí,
07:20
you come to Harvard's biggest
meeting place and classroom.
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chegas á maior aula
e lugar de reunión de Harvard.
07:22
It fits 1,100 people,
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Caben 1100 persoas,
07:24
it's jammed to the gills,
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está cheo a rebentar,
07:25
and up on the stage,
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e no escenario
07:26
waiting to shake your hand,
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agardando para darche a man,
07:27
waiting to hand you your Ig Nobel prize,
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agardando para entregarche
o teu Ig Nobel,
07:30
are a bunch of Nobel prize winners.
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hai unha morea de gañadores do
Premio Nobel.
07:32
That's the heart of the ceremony.
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Iso é a cerna da cerimonia.
07:34
The winners are kept secret until that moment,
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Os gañadores non se coñecen
ata ese momento,
07:36
even the Nobel laureates
who will shake their hand
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incluso os galardoados co Nobel
que lles darán a man
07:38
don't know who they are
until they're announced.
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non saben quen son ata que os anuncian.
07:41
I am going to tell you
about just a very few
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Vou contarvos algúns outros
07:44
of the other medical-related prizes we've given.
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dos premios relacionados coa medicina
que xa demos.
07:48
Keep in mind, we've given 230 prizes.
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Tede en conta que levamos dado
230 premios.
07:50
There are lots of these people
who walk among you.
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Hai moita desta xente que
anda entre vós.
07:52
Maybe you have one.
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Quizais ti teñas un.
07:54
A paper was published about 30 years ago
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Hai uns 30 anos publicouse un artigo
07:56
called "Injuries due to Falling Coconuts."
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titulado "Lesións causadas por
caída de cocos."
07:59
It was written by Dr. Peter Barss,
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1955
Escribiuno o Dr. Peter Barss,
08:01
who is Canadian.
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que é canadense.
08:03
Dr. Barss came to the ceremony
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O Dr. Barss veu á cerimonia
08:05
and explained that as a young doctor,
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e explicou que como médico novo,
08:07
he wanted to see the world.
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quería ver mundo.
08:09
So he went to Papua New Guinea.
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Foi a Papúa-Nova Guinea.
Unha vez alí, traballou nun hospital,
e tiña curiosidade
08:11
When he got there, he went to work
in a hospital, and he was curious
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08:13
what kinds of things happen to people
that bring them to the hospital.
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pola clase de cousas que lle pasaba
á xente para acabar no hospital.
08:19
He looked through the
records, and he discovered
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Revisou os rexistros e descubriu
08:20
that a surprisingly large number of people
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que un número
sorprendentemente amplo de persoas
08:23
in that hospital were there
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estaban no hospital
08:24
because of injuries due to falling coconuts.
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por lesións causadas pola caída
de cocos.
08:27
One typical thing that happens is
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Algo normal que ocorre é
08:29
people will come from the highlands,
where there are not many coconut trees,
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que a xente viña das montañas,
onde non hai moitos coqueiros,
08:33
down to visit their relatives on the coast,
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a visitar aos parentes da costa,
08:35
where there are lots.
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onde hai moitos.
08:37
And they'll think that a coconut tree
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E pensan que un coqueiro
08:38
is a fine place to stand and maybe lie down.
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é un bo lugar para estar ou
se cadra deitarse.
08:41
A coconut tree that is 90 feet tall,
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Un coqueiro duns 27 metros de alto,
08:43
and has coconuts that weigh two pounds
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que ten cocos que pesan case un kilo
08:46
that can drop off at any time.
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e poden caer en calquera momento.
08:50
A team of doctors in Europe
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Un grupo de médicos en Europa
08:52
published a series of papers
about colonoscopies.
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publicou unha serie de artigos
sobre colonoscopias.
08:55
You're all familiar with colonoscopies,
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Todos estades familiarizados
con elas,
08:57
one way or another.
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dun xeito ou outro.
08:58
Or in some cases,
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Ou nalgúns casos,
09:00
one way and another.
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dun xeito e doutro.
(Risos)
Nestes artigos,
09:03
They, in these papers,
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09:07
explained to their fellow doctors
who perform colonoscopies,
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explicábanlles aos seus colegas
que practicaban colonoscopias,
09:11
how to minimize the chance
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como minimizar a posibilidade
09:13
that when you perform a colonoscopy,
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de que cando practicas a colonoscopia,
09:15
your patient will explode. (Laughter)
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o teu paciente estoupe.
(Risos)
09:19
Dr. Emmanuel Ben-Soussan
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O Dr. Emmanuel Ben-Soussan,
09:21
one of the authors,
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un dos autores,
09:22
flew in from Paris to the ceremony,
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voou dende París para a cerimonia,
09:25
where he explained the history of this,
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na que explicou a historia disto:
09:27
that in the 1950s,
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nos anos 50,
09:28
when colonoscopies were becoming
a common technique for the first time,
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cando as colonoscopias
comezaban a ser unha técnica común,
09:34
people were figuring out how to do it well.
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estábase descubrindo como facelas ben.
09:36
And there were some difficulties at first.
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E ao primeiro había algunhas dificultades.
09:39
The basic problem, I'm sure you're familiar with,
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O problema básico, seguro que vos soa,
09:43
that you're looking inside a
long, narrow, dark place.
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é que estás mirando dentro dun lugar
longo, estreito e escuro.
09:48
And so, you want to have a larger space.
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3555
Polo tanto, queres ter
un espazo máis grande.
09:52
You add some gas to inflate it
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Engades un pouco gas para inchalo
09:54
so you have room to look around.
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e así tes máis sitio para mirar.
09:56
Now, that's added to the
gas, the methane gas,
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Pero ese gas engádese ao metano,
09:59
that's already inside.
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que xa está dentro.
10:00
The gas that they used at first,
in many cases, was oxygen.
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O gas que usaban ao primeiro,
en moitos casos, era osíxeno.
10:03
So they added oxygen to methane gas.
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2449
Así que lle engadían osíxeno ao metano.
10:06
And then they wanted to be able to see,
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E entón, se querían poder ver,
10:07
they needed light,
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precisaban luz,
10:09
so they'd put in a light source,
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así que poñían unha fonte de luz,
10:10
which in the 1950s was very hot.
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que nos anos 50 era moi quente.
10:12
So you had methane gas, which is flammable,
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Polo que tiñan metano, que é inflamable,
10:15
oxygen and heat.
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osíxeno e calor.
10:18
They stopped using oxygen pretty quickly.
(Laughter)
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Pararon de usar osíxeno bastante axiña.
(Risos)
10:23
Now it's rare that patients will explode,
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Agora é estraño que os pacientes estoupen,
10:25
but it does still happen.
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pero aínda segue ocorrendo.
O último que vos quero contar é o premio
10:31
The final thing that I want
to tell you about is a prize
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3575
10:35
we gave to Dr. Elena Bodnar.
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que lle demos á Dra. Elena Bodnar.
10:37
Dr. Elena Bodnar invented a brassiere
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4125
Ela inventou un suxeitador
10:41
that in an emergency
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que nunha emerxencia
se pode separar rapidamente
10:43
can be quickly separated
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1193
10:44
into a pair of protective face masks.
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3519
nun par de máscaras de protección
10:48
One to save your life,
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Unha para salvarche a vida,
10:49
one to save the life of some
lucky bystander. (Laughter)
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outra para salvarlla a algún sortudo
que pase por alí.
(Risos)
10:55
Why would someone do this, you might wonder.
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Estarédesvos preguntando
por que faría alguén algo así.
10:58
Dr. Bodnar came to the ceremony
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A Dra. Bodnar veu á cerimonia
11:00
and she explained that
she grew up in Ukraine.
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e explicou que ela criouse en Ucraína.
11:03
She was one of the doctors who treated victims
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Foi un dos médicos que tratou a vítimas
11:05
of the Chernobyl power plant meltdown.
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do accidente nuclear de Chernóbil.
11:07
And they later discovered that
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E máis tarde descubriron
11:09
a lot of the worst medical problems
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que moitos dos peores problemas médicos
11:11
came from the particles people breathed in.
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viñan de partículas que a xente respirou.
11:13
So she was always thinking after that
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1928
Así que sempre quedou pensando
11:15
about could there be some simple mask
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1627
se podería haber algunha
máscara sinxela
11:17
that was available everywhere
when the unexpected happens.
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4696
que estivese dispoñíble en todas partes
cando ocorrera algo inesperado.
11:21
Years later, she moved to America.
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Anos despois, mudouse a América.
11:23
She had a baby,
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844
Tivo un meniño.
11:24
One day she looked, and on the floor,
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Un día mirou no chan
11:26
her infant son had picked up her bra,
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que o seu cativo collera o seu suxeitador
11:29
and had her bra on his face.
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e o puxera na cara.
11:31
And that's where the idea came from.
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E de aí saíu a idea.
11:32
She came to the Ig Nobel ceremony
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2003
Veu á cerimonia dos Ig Nobel
11:34
with the first prototype of the bra
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co primeiro prototipo do suxeitador
11:37
and she demonstrated:
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e fixo a demostración.
11:41
(Laughter) (Applause)
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(Risos) (Aplausos)
12:10
["Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate
(2008) in economics"]
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8429
[Paul Krugman, Premio Nobel de Economía
do ano 2008]
12:40
["Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel
laureate (2001) in physics"]
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7009
[Wolfgang Ketterle, Premio Nobel de Física
do ano 2001]
Eu mesmo teño un suxeitador de
emerxencias.
12:55
I myself own an emergency bra. (Laughter)
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(Risos)
12:59
It's my favorite bra,
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É o meu suxeitador favorito,
13:01
but I would be happy to
share it with any of you,
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pero encantaríame compartilo con
calquera de vós
13:04
should the need arise.
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se fora necesario.
13:06
Thank you.
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Grazas.
13:07
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Abrahams - Science humorist
Marc Abrahams writes about research that makes people laugh, and then think.

Why you should listen
Author and newspaper columnist Marc Abrahams is the editor of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research. In this hilarious talk, he shares thought-provoking stories behind some of the winners of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.
More profile about the speaker
Marc Abrahams | Speaker | TED.com