Finally revealed: Just how slippery are banana skins

The prizes are organised by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research​ and were awarded at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, last week.

Scientists from the Kitasato University measured the friction of banana skin and showed why apple and orange peel are not as hazardous.

Kiyoshi Mabuchi, who led the research, said: “Shortly after banana was imported to North America in the mid-nineteenth century, it became common sense that banana skin is slippery and sometimes causes accidental slip.”​

Academic interest ​

There had to be some academic interest in how much friction under banana skin was needed to result in slipping, Mabuchi claimed.

A study by the University of Toronto and the Chinese Academy of Sciences into why seeing Jesus in your toast did not make you mentally abnormal​ – reported by FoodManufacture.co.uk in May – won the neuroscience award.

Other winners were a study into how uncontrollable nosebleeds could be treated by packing the nasal with strips of cured pork and tests to see how reindeer react to seeing humans dressed as polar bears.