Work on how much saliva a five-year-old makes wins chemistry Ig Nobel

Japanese researchers have won this year’s Ig Nobel chemistry prize for estimating the amount of saliva that the typical five-year-old child produces daily. Shigeru Watanabe, a paediatric dentistry professor at Meikai University in Urayasu, accepted the award on behalf of his research team at the ceremony at Harvard University yesterday evening. His adult sons, who were among the study subjects 35 years ago, also joined him on the stage. In case you were wondering, it turns out that five-year-olds generate about 500ml of saliva every day, assuming that the flow rate is virtually zero during sleep, Watanabe announced in his acceptance speech.