Every year, UNESCO selects several places of outstanding cultural and natural importance from around the world and includes them in a prestigious World Heritage List. This year a new, unusual British site was selected, one that highlights the importance of Britain as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution that transformed the world.

The Ig Nobel Prize, a spoof on the name of the more famous Nobel, is given annually to scientists and researchers who investigate the most unusual issues in various fields. It’s both a light-hearted and a serious prize, as it aims to reward research that “first makes people laugh and then makes them think.”