This was sent to me and I thought you all might enjoy a little mollusk and
general science related laugh.  I have edited this to take out the non science
related or possibly offensive items.If you would like the full thing (and I
know You will Kurt) just Email me privately at [log in to unmask]
Sarah Watson
 
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Peter Fong has given new meaning to the expression
``happy as a clam.''
 
Drop Prozac into water, as the Gettysburg College biologist did, and mollusks
reproduce at 10 times their normal rate, he found.
 
His scientific contributions won him the Ig Nobel Prize in Biology, a Harvard-
based spoof of the real Nobels, being announced now through Oct. 16. The Ig
Nobels go to people whose achievements ``cannot or should not be reproduced.''
.  .  . .
Ten in all were chosen for prizes in the Eighth First Annual ceremonies
Thursday and Friday.
 
Fong -- the clam man -- was pursuing research on the basic nervous system of
fingernail clams when he discovered that if he dumped the antidepressant
Prozac into the water, the clams would start reproducing madly.
 
``It's a piece of wonderful science and it sounds utterly ridiculous at the
same time,'' said Marc Abrahams, editor of the tongue-in-cheek Annals of
Improbable Research, the Cambridge-based journal that bestows the awards.
 
A committee of about 15 unidentified people perused hundreds of nominations.
Real Nobel laureates participate too, handing out the prizes.
 
Some prizes go to scientists, like Fong. Others go to ordinary folk who devote
their lives to questionably ``scientific'' pursuits.
 
Like 33-year-old Troy Hurtubise of Ontario, Canada, winner of this year's
``Safety Engineering Award.'' He has spent years developing -- and personally
testing -- a suit of armor impervious to grizzly bears. He's still trying to
perfect it.
 
``He's a classic inventor,'' Abrahams said. ``He gets this idea and he really
sticks with it.''
 
 
Other winners this year included:
 
The Ig Nobel Peace Prize: Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for ``their aggressively peaceful
explosions of atomic bombs.''
 
For chemistry: Jacques Benveniste of Clamart, France, for his discovery that
water has memory and that the information can be transmitted over telephone
lines and the Internet.
 
 
For physics: Spirituality guru Deepak Chopra for his interpretation of quantum
physics ``as it applies to life, liberty and the pursuit of economic
happiness.''