More "Pointless" Research: the 2014 Ig Nobel Award Winners!

In August, I wrote about so-called pointless research and an organization that celebrates this research that makes you laugh, then makes you think.  Well, the 2014 winners of the Ig Nobel awards have been announced!  We've got people studying the physics behind slipping on a banana peel, the neuroscience of seeing faces in mundane items, the psychopathy of being a night owl, the dangers of being a cat lady, dogs facing their own mecca when they poop, a tasty way to treat nosebleeds, reindeer don't trust people dressed as animals either, and a fairly gross way to produce starter probiotic cultures for sausage-making (it may put you off sausages from now on).  Let's explore these interesting, improbable, and yes "pointless" findings!

Bee Bacteria may be an Alternative to Antibiotics

Raw honey has been used to treat infections for centuries, and today we are very aware of the extent of its antimicrobial properties, though we still don't know what it is exactly that makes honey so effective (the best idea right now is honey's osmolarity and hydrogen peroxide content).  Six years ago, a group of researchers in Sweden discovered a large, unexplored bacterial microbiota in the honey stomach of honeybees, which was made up of 40 lactic acid bacterial strains, 9 strains of Lactobacillus, and 4 strains of Bifidobacterium.  The researchers hypothesized that this microbiota, specifically the lactic acid bacteria (LAB), were responsible for the antimicrobial properties of honey.  The group report (in an open access study published this week) having finally found the answer.