 Ignobell Prize in Physics lecture. This lecture explains why the research work involving vibrating earthworms made people laugh and then think. The investigations were done by Ivan Maximov and Andrei Pototsky at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. The voiceover is read by Lisa DeAngelis. At face value it was simply two scientists observing a bunch of worms jiggling on a loudspeaker. From these observations however one could test the hypothesis stating that nerve impulses move not only as electric signals but also as sound waves. The results of this work may also help create a new safer approach to linking the human brain with computers. The experiment was technically simple. Ivan harvested several earthworms in his backyard. He sedated them in vodka to relax their muscles and vibrated them on a loudspeaker. He pointed a laser beam on the surface of the worm and measured the reflected light with a photo detector. When the spectrum of the reflected light was analyzed Ivan and Andrei observed several peaks. Those peaks meant that there were some ripples on the body of the vibrated earthworm. Such ripples are known as Faraday waves. Faraday waves can be seen on a vibrating liquid drop when the vibrations become intense enough to make the liquid surface unstable. Earthworms consist mostly of water so the researchers expected a sedated worm to vibrate similarly to a water drop. When they switched the loudspeaker on the whole worm moved up and down but when they increased the volume to above the Faraday instability level Faraday waves appeared on the worm's surface. Exploiting striking similarity with the vibrated liquid drop a computer model of a vibrated earthworm was developed which allowed to visualize the shape of the Faraday ripples. Using this model Andrei and Ivan managed to estimate the stiffness stretchability of the worm body. There have been numerous attempts to link the human brain with computers. A growing number of high-tech companies including Elon Musk's Neuralink plan to implant needle electrodes into human brains to achieve this. However this approach is very invasive and poses significant health risks such as inflammation of the brain tissue or brain damage. Sound and vibrations can both move through human skin, bones and tissue without causing damage. This is how medical ultrasound imaging is done. By externally generating ultrasound waves at different frequencies such as on a mobile device for instance one may be able to trigger Faraday waves in the brain's tissues. The researchers think that these Faraday waves should interact with the brain's nerve impulses and activate certain signals corresponding to human thoughts. This may help create a safer sound-based link between the human brain and computers. One that works without unsafe needle electrodes. To test a mobile device non-sedated earthworms were vibrated on a buzzing mobile phone and Faraday waves were observed on their bodies. Linking the human brain with computers would allow the transmission of knowledge. For example how to fly a helicopter or speak a foreign language from a computer directly to a person's brain. Of course we're still a long way off from knowing how to actually do something this complex. Thank you for your attention.