'Gay bomb' scoops Ig Nobel award

In September 2004, the world learned, thanks to US Government papers released to the Sunshine Project under the Freedom of Information Act, that in 1994, the US Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio requested $7.5M (£3.8m) for the funding a research programme to create non-leathal weapons.

The proposal suggested that "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior." The so-called "gay bomb" would make enemy soldiers gay and "have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another".

Last week, the research project was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Peace with the following dedication: "The US Air Force Wright Laboratory for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among enemy troops."

Organised by the scientific magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), the Ig Nobels are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and
want to "honour achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology." The trophy includes a plastic plucked chicken tryint to swallow a giant egg.

Nobody from the US military who carried out the research (a project called Harassing, Annoying and "Bad Guy" Identifying Chemicals) could be tracked down to receive the prize.

* US military pondered love not war - BBC News
* Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb' - CBS 5
* US "Non Lethal" Chemical (and Biochemical) Weapons Research: - Sunshine Project
* 'Gay bomb' scoops Ig Nobel award - BBC News
* Gay bomb proposal wins satirical prize - PinkNews.co.uk
* Ig Nobel Prize