The annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony returned to Zurich, Switzerland this year after 35 years in Boston. Organizers cited safety concerns for international travelers reluctant to visit the US. The ceremony featured miniature operas, scientific demos, and the traditional 24-second and seven-word lectures. After safety issues were raised last year, four of ten winners skipped the Boston ceremony. Next year’s event moves to Antwerp, Flanders, with Zurich returning in 2028 and every even-numbered year thereafter.

Biomechanics winners Matilda Brindle, Catherine Talbot, and Stuart West redefined kissing as "non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer." Their research across ants, birds, polar bears, and humans concluded most large apes kiss, but Eastern gorillas lost the trait. Neanderthal ancestors also engaged in the behavior.

Other honors included research on designing splash-free urinals, using mosquito proboscises to necroprint tiny nozzles, studying buried cotton underwear composition rates, and nose-blow aerodynamics. The Ig Nobels, a parody of the Nobel Prizes, honor achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think. Free public talks follow the ceremony and will be posted online.