COMPLICATED ALGORITHMS TO FIND WHO DEALT IT

Held by Guokr.com， a Chinese science website，and the Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum，the annual Pineapple Prize for physics went to Li Jigong from Tianjin University who invented a device and its accompanying algorithm to trace the source of flatulence-or toxic chemical leaks， landmines，survivors of horrific accidents， whatever. Mainly it’s farts， according to media reports. The winner of this Ig Nobel Prize-like award uses a grid-like system of increasingly precise measurements to locate scent， and each movement from the device collects information on air-speed and odor concentration， eventually leading the sniff-bot to the scent’s source， meaning your butt. Li wrote in one of his many publications on the subject： “It is expected that mobile robots developed with such olfaction capability will play more and more roles in such areas as judging toxic or harmful gas leakage location， checking for contraband， searching for survivors in collapsed buildings， humanitarian de-mining， and anti-terrorists attacks.” One of the most amazing things about the fart （or harmful chemical leak）sniffer， is that it constantly updates information so as to pin-point where a scent is coming from rather than where it’s going. Though there are currently no plans for this type of technology to be put in mobile phones， it would certainly be useful for the elevators in the TWOC offices. - T.R.