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Nature 443, 616-617 (12 October 2006) | doi:10.1038/443616b; Published online 11 October 2006

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Hard-hitting endeavour captures Ig Nobel

Steve Nadis

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Woodpecker research flies away with alternative prize.

When Ivan Schwab first learned that he was slated to win an Ig Nobel prize for explaining why woodpeckers don't get headaches, his response was perhaps predictable for a man whose past had come back to haunt him: he denied everything."I didn't do the work," Schwab, an ophthalmologist at the University of California, Davis, told the event's organizer after being informed of the dubious honour in store for him.