Nose-blowing study from Japan wins Ig Nobel Prize

A study from 1977 on how to blow your nose has won the 36th Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine^*1. Asahikawa Medical University, a university in Japan, announced the news on September 4, 2026.

The main writer of the study was Tokuji Unno. He was the first professor at the university for diseases of the ear, nose, and throat. He wrote the study with Yajima, a doctor who was then at Wakayama Medical University, another university in Japan. The study was printed in 1977 in a Japanese medical journal^*2 for ear, nose, and throat doctors.

In the study, 15 boys and men helped the researchers^*3. They were between 14 and 48 years old. The researchers used two machines that measure moving air. The machines measured how fast the air came out of each side of the nose, how much air came out, and how long it took. The researchers also measured how the pressure^*4 changed inside the ear.

The study found four things. First, it is better to blow one side of the nose at a time. Second, blowing hard does not directly make an infection^*5 of the middle ear^*6 worse, so it is fine to blow with force. Third, it works best to breathe in a little first and then blow slowly. Fourth, blowing your nose also helps to clear mucus^*7 from the lower airways^*8, toward the lungs.

Tokuji Unno was born in March 1933. He studied medicine at Chiba University. In October 1976, he became the first professor for ear, nose, and throat diseases at Asahikawa Medical University. He retired in March 1998 and became an honorary professor^*9 the next month. He died in August 2022. He was 89 years old.

The prize ceremony^*10 was held at the Kongresshaus Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 3 at 7 p.m. In Japan, it was 2 a.m. on September 4. Because Tokuji Unno has died, Miki Takahara went to the ceremony in his place. Miki Takahara is now the professor for ear, nose, and throat diseases at Asahikawa Medical University. He is the third person to hold that job.

1. *1 medicine: the study of health and sickness, and how to help sick people
2. *2 journal: a magazine where scientists print their studies
3. *3 researchers: people who study something carefully to learn new things
4. *4 pressure: how hard the air pushes on something
5. *5 infection: a sickness caused by very small living things getting into the body
6. *6 middle ear: the small space inside the ear, behind the eardrum
7. *7 mucus: the wet, sticky stuff that comes out of your nose
8. *8 airways: the tubes that carry air to the lungs
9. *9 honorary professor: a title a university gives to a professor after he or she retires
10. *10 ceremony: a special event, for example when a prize is given