Also, Margot Button and Brian Nash, two local singers, starred in the world premiere of "The Brain Food Opera," a farce presented in three acts, set to well-known pieces of music from operas such as Carmen and La Traviata.

Special guests feuded in a debate to determine the Smartest Person in the World, with participants including Jamil Mahuad, former president of Ecuador and Leonid Hambro, former principal pianist of the New York Philharmonic.

Other highlights of the ceremony included a performance by Jim Bredt, who, painted silver from head to toe, performed for his ninth year as "the human spotlight."

Several of this year's winners will lecture today at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Tomorrow, the winners will travel to MIT to explain their work. Past winner Hyuk-Ho Kwon, inventor of the self-perfuming business suit, will join them.

The event was simulcast live on the Internet. A video recording of the ceremony is available at http://ignobel.org.