Testing zebra stripes on cows — with some very positive results

How would the Irish countryside look if our farmers were to dress up their cattle as zebras?

Example of the area of legs and body used to count biting flies on cows

The Ig Nobel Prize was created in 1991. Organised by the humorous scientific magazine Annals of Improbable Research, it honours ‘achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think’. Winners receive a trillion-dollar Zimbabwean banknote... worth about half a euro.

This year’s award ceremony took place at Boston University. The biology prize went to Tomoki Kojima and his team, for a project on cows posing as zebras. "I couldn’t believe it," Kojima declared, on hearing that he had won the prestigious award: "I thought I was dreaming."