The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize Winners The 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday, September 3, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland. IG NOBEL BIOMECHANICS PRIZE 2026 [UK, USA] Matilda Brindle (who also co-authored the study named The Evolution of Masturbation in Birds), Catherine Talbot, and Stuart West for devising a more precise definition of kissing — “non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific,