Does painting cows with stripes prevent fly bites? Researchers who studied this win Ig Nobel prize

BOSTON (AP) — A team of researchers from Japan wondered if painting cows with zebralike stripes would prevent flies from biting them. Another group from Africa and Europe pondered the types of pizza lizards preferred to eat.

Those researchers were honored Thursday in Boston with an Ig Nobel, the prize — a hand made model of a human stomach — for comical scientific achievement. In lieu of a big paycheck, each winner was also given a single hand wipe.

“When I did this experiment, I hoped that I would win the Ig Nobel. It's my dream. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable,” said Tomoki Kojima, whose team put tape on Japanese beef cows and then spray painted them with white stripes. Kojima appeared on stage in stripes and was surrounded by his fellow researchers who harassed with cardboard flies.

As a result of the paint job, fewer flies were attracted to the cows and they seemed less bothered by the flies. Despite the findings, Kojima admitted it might be a challenge to apply this approach on a large-scale.

The year’s winners, honored in 10 categories, also include a group from Europe that found drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person’s ability to speak a foreign language and a researcher who studied fingernail growth for decades.

“Every great discovery ever, at first glance seemed screwy and laughable,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an email interview ahead of the awards ceremony. “The same is true of every worthless discovery. The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate ALL these discoveries, because at the very first glance, who really knows?”

The 35th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony is organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, a digital magazine that highlights research that makes people laugh and then think. It’s usually held weeks before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced.

The ceremony to celebrate winners Thursday night at Boston University began with a longtime tradition: the audience pelting the stage with paper airplanes. Several of those who couldn't attend had their speeches read by actual Nobel laureates including Esther Duflo, who won the Nobel Prize for her experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

There was also a mini-opera about gastroenterologists and their patients, inspired by this year’s theme which is digestion. Several people sang about all the challenges of treating stomach bugs and being feted by patients who bring them pizza and chili dogs.

There was also a section called the 24-second lecture where top researchers explain their work in 24 seconds. Among them was Gus Rancatore, who spent most of his time licking an ice cream cone and repeatedly saying yum and Trisha Pasricha, who explained her work studying smartphone use on the toilet and the potential risk for hemorrhoids.

When any winner appeared to be rambling on too long, a man wearing a dress over his suit would appear at their side and repeatedly yell, “Please stop. I'm bored.”

Other winners this year included a group from India that studied whether foul-smelling shoes influenced someone’s experience using a shoe rack, and researchers from the United States and Israel who explored whether eating Teflon is a good way to increase food volume. There was also a team of international scientists that looked at whether giving alcohol to bats impaired their ability to fly.

“It’s a great honor for us,” said Francisco Sanchez, one of the researchers from Colombia who studied the drunken bats. “It's really good. You can see that scientists are not really square and super serious and can have some fun while showing interesting science.”

Sanchez said their research found that the bats weren't fans of rotten fruit, which often has higher concentrations of alcohol. Maybe for good reason. When they were forced to eat it, their flying and echolocation suffered, he said.

“They actually got drunk similar to what happens to us,” Sanchez said. “When you take some ethanol, you move slower and your speech is impaired.”

Among the most animated of the winners was a team of researchers from several European countries who studied the physics of pasta sauce. One of the researchers wore a cook’s outfit with a fake mustache to accept the award while another dressed as a big ball of mozzarella cheese got pummeled by several people holding wooden cookware. They ended by handing out bowls of pasta to the Nobel laureates.

Audience members toss paper airplanes during the Ig Nobel Prize award ceremony, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for aviation is accepted by Francisco Sanchez for studying whether ingesting alcohol can impair bats' ability to fly, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for nutrition is accepted by Daniele Dendi, Gabriel H. Segniagbeto, Roger Meek, and Luca Luiselli, for studying the extent to which a certain kind of lizard chooses to eat certain kinds of pizza, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for aviation is accepted by Francisco Sanchez for studying whether ingesting alcohol can impair bats' ability to fly, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Audience members toss paper airplanes during the award the Ig Nobel Prize award ceremony, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for biology is accepted by Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima, Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and Katsutoshi Kino, for their experiments to learn whether cows painted with zebra- like striping can avoid being bitten by flies, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for pediatrics is accepted by Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp, for studying what a nursing baby experiences when the baby's mother eats garlic, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The Ig Nobel Prize for psychology is accepted by Marcin Zajenkowski, left, and Gilles Gignac, for investigating what happens when you tell narcissists — or anyone else — that they are intelligent, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A detail of the 2025 Ig Nobel award, one of many that will be awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications, is displayed, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

An 2025 Ig Nobel award, one of many that will be awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications, is displayed, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

An 2025 Ig Nobel award, one of many that will be awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications, is displayed, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - Michael Smith, a Cornell University graduate student who allowed himself to be stung about 200 times by bees to determine where you feel the most pain on the body from a sting, makes an acceptance speech while being honored during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. The Ig Nobel prize is an award handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - Audience members launch paper airplanes during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. The Ig Nobel prize is an award handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

The Ig Nobel Prize for biology is accepted by Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima, Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and Katsutoshi Kino, for their experiments to learn whether cows painted with zebra- like striping can avoid being bitten by flies, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.

Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.

The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”

Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.

To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.

Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.

Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.

Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)