A Japanese researcher has taken out the 2018 Ig Nobel prize for medical education, for a paper in which he demonstrated that self-colonoscopy in a sitting position without sedation is possible.
Akira Hoiuchi of Showa Inan General Hospital in Komagane also found the procedure could be undertaken in four minutes and only caused "mild discomfort".
The Ig Nobel awards honour research that "makes people laugh, then think" and are given out annually by the Annals of Improbable Research, the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students.
Another winner this year was a team from Michigan State University who investigated the impact of theme park rides on the elimination of kidney stones.
The study, which involved taking kidney stone samples suspended in urine for 20 rides on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was successful, with the roller coaster particularly effective on "renal calculi passages" for those in the back seat.
More details at improbable.com.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 18 Sep 18
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 18 Sep 18
