Dear all,

In the last Science Class we focused on the Nobel Prize winners of 2012 in the fields of chemistry, physics and physiology & medicine. In the upcoming ICMS Science Class we will focus on the Ig Nobel Prizes. We want to show you research that, as the prize is frequently described, first makes you laugh, and then makes you think. An interesting fact: six of the last twenty Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded to Dutch scientists! Please have a look at http://www.improbable.com/ig/ for a delightful collection of winners. 

We have invited Annelies van Bronswijk, professor emerita at TU/e, who won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2007 in the field of biology. She was awarded the prize “for doing a census of all the mites, insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns and fungi with whom we share our beds each night”. Dr. ir. Maurice Janssen is also invited to talk about his research concerning the vestibular system. His group at Maastricht University won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2011, “for determining why discus throwers become dizzy, and why hammer throwers don't”. 

The ICMS Science Class will take place on Tuesday 15 January from 17:45 at the ICMS, Ceres 1.26. All bachelor and master students of the TU/e are welcome. PhD students, postdocs and staff associated with the ICMS are also welcome to join. The meeting will be from 17:45 to approximately 20:00 and during the break pizzas will be served. Please send an email to icms@remove-this.tue.nl if you want to participate. 

We hope to see you 15 January! 

Jody Lugger

Lenny Meijer

Bas Rosier

The Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), founded on April 1, 2008, is an interdisciplinary initiative at the Eindhoven University of Technology. It brings together excellent researchers and students from different areas to promote cross-breeding of ideas across departments and across disciplines. For interested students, we have launched the ICMS Science Class. Every six to eight weeks a relevant subject will be discussed in a meeting that starts with a lecture at 17:45. After this, pizzas will be served, followed by a discussion about the subject. At these meetings students are able to directly interact with each other and with ICMS staff members.