BOFFINS in the UK have found the most satisfying part of the body to scratch – the ankle.
Professor Francis McGlone, 70, is among a team of university brainiacs to map out which parts of the body are most pleasurable to itch.
The researcher at Liverpool John Moores University was handed a Ig Nobel peace prize for his findings – which discovered the back and forearm closely followed the ankle.
He accepted the award via video link, after he was unable to attend the ceremony at Harvard University.
Prof McGlone told attendees: “Thank you very much for this honour. On behalf of all my co-authors, thank you.”
The Ig Nobel awards – which celebrate weird and wonderful scientific discoveries – were handed out at an annual ceremony this week.
Postmen’s testicles
Other winners included Dutch and Turkish researchers who figured out which nation has the dirtiest money, an Italian scientist who studied whether pizza could protect against cancer, and an Iranian engineer who obtained a US patent for a nappy-changing machine.
Two researchers from the University of Toulouse won the anatomy prize after they recruited French postmen to see whether a man’s testicles are both the same temperature.
Professors Bengoudifa and Mieusset found the left one was warmer, but only when a man has his clothes on.
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Other winners included an international team who studied how wombats make cubed poo, and a German scientist who found that holding a pen in your mouth makes you happier, because it makes you smile.
The awards were presented by actual Nobel prize winners.
Each Ig Nobel winner was awarded a cash prize of a now-obsolete 10 trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe.
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