Note: This is an archived version of a live webcast that took place on 12 September 2013. A video of the Ig Nobel ceremony is available to view on YouTube.

Welcome to Nature’s first live webcast of the infamous Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, streamed direct from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Billed as the award that “first makes people laugh then makes them think”, the Ig Nobels are science’s counterpoint to the high-brow world of Nobels, Laskers and Fields Medals. Ig Nobel prizes are intended to celebrate unusual — some might say ludicrous — scientific achievements, be they finding out why woodpeckers don’t get headaches, why chickens prefer beautiful people or why beetles are turned on by bottles. To add to the general sense of bemusement, the prizes are awarded by actual Nobel laureates.

This year's awards ceremony will no doubt bring more of the same, so sit back, press play and join us as science has a good — but ultimately productive — laugh at itself.

The ceremony begins at 6 PM EDT (11 PM BST) and will last approximately 1.5 hours.

Credit: Ig Nobels