Japanese win Ig Nobel for wasabi smoke alarm

Kyodo

Cambridge Massachusetts — A group of Japanese researchers won the spoof Ig Nobel chemistry prize Thursday for developing a smoke detector that sprays a wasabi scent to warn of possible fires.

"We invented the wasabi fire alarm to wake up people with hearing disabilities in case of emergency," Makoto Imai, assistant professor at Shiga University of Medical Science, said before the ceremony at Harvard University, adding that the device is a "life-saver."

The 21st annual event for the prizes, which the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research gives in 10 categories as a parody of the Nobel Prizes, was held at Harvard University's historic Sanders Theatre. It was the fifth straight year that an Ig Nobel prize has been won by Japanese.

Imai and his six teammates were honored for discovering the "ideal density of airborne wasabi" to awaken sleepers in a crisis, the magazine said.

Accepting the prize, Imai told the enthusiastic crowd of around 1,200 about the hard work that went into making the gadget, thanking research subjects who "choked on the pungent smell" while they slept in exam rooms.

The seven-member team began their project in 2000 to benefit people who can't hear traditional fire alarms, which rely on sound.

Their experiments focused on the source of the overpowering wasabi odor — allyl mustard oil — and the amount that can safely be used to rouse someone who is asleep.

Seems Inc. in Tokyo and Kobe-based Air Water Safety Service Inc. used the research to develop an alarm that warns people by emitting the powerful scent until "a person is unable to tolerate" the odor, according to the U.S. patent filed in February 2009.

Available since April 2009, the alarm sells for about $600, although a more economic model may be on the market in one to two years, the team said.