'Human Can Breathe Anus''Winner Prize'
Sep 20, 2024
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According to foreign media, a research team led by Takebe Takanori, a professor at Tokyo Medical and Dentistry University in Japan, won the Nobel Prize 'Ig Novel Prize' for their study on how humans can breathe or absorb oxygen through their buttocks.
The Nobel Prize was created in 1991 by satirizing the Nobel Prize for brilliant research and achievements from the history of humor science at Harvard University.
Awards are given to quirky, unconventional, and imaginative research.
This year's 34th award ceremony was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the 12th.
At the ceremony, Professor Takebe and his research team won the award for their work on 'long breathing through an anus.
The study was published in the journal 『Med" in 2021.
Professor Takebe's team was inspired by loach and studied whether humans could do the same.
It is known that loach and catfish use the intestines rather than gills to obtain the necessary oxygen in the body when oxygen in the water becomes insufficient.
First of all, the research team developed a special device that can safely deliver oxygen through tubes similar to the enema to overcome the risk of injecting air into the rectum.
In experiments with pigs and mice, respiratory symptoms were significantly improved and there were no significant side effects, the research team explained.
The team expected that this could provide a 'innovative approach' for patients with respiratory failure, especially those suffering from COVID-19.
Clinical trials to verify the safety and efficacy of this treatment began in June, with plans to commercialize it by 2028 in Japan and by 2030 in the United States.
Professor Takebe, who attended the award ceremony wearing a loach hat, said "First of all, thank you for believing in the potential of the anus."
Meanwhile, the Nobel Prize winner receives a symbolic prize of 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars (about 530 won).
bellho@sportschosun.com
