I don’t know why. Proving something is false is as good as proving something that is true. Knowledge moves forward. The public thinks that Okinawa and Greece have the highest longevity. Instead they have pension fraud and poor record keeping. That’s worth knowing.
Ig Nobels are not about bad research.
> Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think."
Not just pension fraud, Mediterranean pension fraud!
I'd heard of several of those findings, but didn't realize it was all the same person. Excellent work.
The connection between pension fraud and living past 100 did make me laugh when I first read about it.
>according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the least vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index.
My first thought was, that must be because of the big American presence on Okinawa. But it seems to be much less than I thought (18K vs. 1.47M).
Why did he get an ig nobel prize for catching fraud..
See also a recent interview of this guy at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41539235