More than 1,200 paper-airplane throwing spectators gathered in Sanders Theatre last night to watch three Nobel prize laureates award the 2000 Ig Nobel Prizes to weird and wacky endeavors.

Nobel winners Charles Clements, Professor Dudley R. Herschbach '56 and Richard J. Roberts were on hand to honor work that "cannot or should not be reproduced."

Winners journeyed from the Netherlands, Scotland and Canada to accept their prizes. The gala ceremony recognized imaginative endeavors, ranging from levitating a frog with magnets to developing software that detects when a cat walks across a computer keyboard.

Australian Consulate-General Michael Baum attended to accept the literature award on behalf of Australian winner Jasmuheen, who explains in her book Living on Light that eating really isn't necessary.

"I think the scientific community needs to have its pants taken off every now and then," Baum said of the event, sponsored by the Annals of Improbable Research.

Magazine editor Marc Abrahams acted as master of ceremonies for this, the 10th annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.

"If you didn't win an Ig Nobel prize tonight, and especially if you did, better luck next year," Abrahams said at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The evening also featured a series of events that centered around the theme "Intelligence." Roberts himself served as the prize in the Win-a-Date-With-a-Nobel-Lauerate Contest.