The post Science Confirms Teenagers Smell Worse Than Babies and 7 Other Delightfully Odd Ig Nobel Winners first appeared on Crafting Your Home.
If you have ever wondered why a baby’s smell can seem irresistible while a teenager’s bedroom can tell a very different story, scientists have now given parents something to talk about.
Researchers studying how parents perceive their children’s body odors won the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize in Olfaction for finding evidence that babies smell wonderful to their parents, while teenagers generally do not. The prize was awarded to Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska at the Ig Nobel ceremony in Zurich on September 3.
The research behind the prize is not actually new. The original study was published in 2017, after 255 mothers and fathers rated the body odor of their children and, for comparison, their partners. Follow-up research later examined odor samples from more than 300 children and included brain-imaging work.
So yes, scientific evidence backs up the familiar parental complaint.
Scientists finally defined what counts as a kiss.
The Ig Nobel Prize in Biomechanics went to Matilda Brindle, Catherine Talbot and Stuart West for developing a more precise scientific definition of kissing.
It sounds obvious until scientists start asking exactly what qualifies as a kiss.
Someone studied how to blow your nose.
The Medicine Prize went posthumously to Japanese researcher Tokuji Unno for a 1977 study titled How to Blow the Nose: An Aerodynamic Study of the Nose Blowing.
The research examined the mechanics of blowing one’s nose and even considered differences in how the practice was approached in Japan and Europe.
A splash-free urinal became a physics problem.
The Physics Prize recognized Randy Hurd, Zhao Pan, Tadd Truscott and Kaveeshan Thurairajah for theoretical and experimental work aimed at designing a urinal that produces less splash.
Their research examined the angle at which a stream hits a surface and how a urinal’s shape can reduce unwanted splashing.
Mosquito mouthparts became 3D-printing equipment.
The researchers used mosquito proboscises, the insects’ specialized mouthparts, as high-resolution 3D-printing nozzles in a process called necroprinting.
Researchers buried 1,000 pairs of underwear.
The Soil Science Prize went to researchers who buried 1,000 pairs of identical cotton underwear in more than 25 countries and dug them up two months later.
The researchers investigated whether decomposing cotton underwear could provide information about soil activity and conditions.
Scientists investigated what makes venomous snakes bite.
The team studied whether different parts of a snake’s body, different temperatures, and different times of day affected the likelihood of a defensive bite. The study involved repeatedly applying carefully controlled pressure to different parts of snakes.
Cockroach “milk” entered the scientific spotlight.
The researchers found that the protein crystals associated with this cockroach’s milk contain about three times as much energy per unit mass as cow’s milk proteins.
Researchers studied why people appreciate mean friends.
The Peace Prize went to Jaimie Arona Krems, Rebecka Hahnel-Peeters, Laureon Merrie, Keelah Williams and Daniel Sznycer.
Their research examined people’s preferences for friends who behave aggressively or unpleasantly toward people the friend and participant both dislike.
In other words, the study explored an awkward social reality: sometimes people may appreciate a friend who is especially unpleasant to someone they themselves dislike.
What makes the Ig Nobels different?
The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. They are not intended to suggest that the research is worthless or that the scientists are not serious.
The 2026 winners covered everything from human relationships and parenting to engineering, biology, soil science and physics.
Why does my baby smell so good?
Why does a urinal splash?
Those questions may sound ridiculous at first. But the Ig Nobels show that curiosity does not always arrive wearing a lab coat and carrying an obvious question.
And for parents everywhere, it may also provide a scientifically backed explanation for why the baby smell disappears when puberty arrives.
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