My question is this: Given that the pee pee pipe for females is shorter than that for males, is the average time to urinate the same for both sexes?
3
And girls, too, can use their pee-pee pipe to write their names in the snow.
3
There's a long, squalid history of politicians like Jeff Flake attacking basic research as frivolous without having any understanding of its meaning or importance. Sarah Palin once made fun of research on fruit flies, possibly the most important experimental animals in the history of science. I wonder if these Luddites ever pay a price for their public stupidity...Nah.
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Science is gobs of fun and it must tickle Dr. Hu is paid to have fun. He is a member of a long list of mathematicians, scientists, and engineers that have made wild discoveries that involved as sorts of surprises, without the least considering whether they were useful.
Abraham Flexner, one of the founders for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, wrote an essay in Harpers magazine in 1939 titled, THE USEFULNESS OF USELESS KNOWLEDGE. Below is the web address. It's a great little essay and something all members of Congress should read if the can reade.
https://library.ias.edu/files/UsefulnessHarpers.pdf
10
U.S. Army taps brilliant but kooky scientist to find a solution against wet, muddy conditions. Queue Cat's Cradle.
2
This man is my new hero. I hope to raise my son to be just as curious and intellectually uninhibited. His approach to science and research stands in stark contrast to the grim, achievement -oriented way in which I (and so many others in STEM) went through education and training, eventually leading to a career to which I now know (after over a decade of burnout) I am totally unsuited. I want to start over and be like him when I grow up!
22
Boundless curiosity is the key to all of our futures, and Dr. Hu is leading the way. His research, and approach, is needed more now than ever. Thank you for a great article and can't wait to read his book!
12
Great article, will be checking out that book. Its always great to hear about the greater context of the IG Nobel winners
6
I enjoyed this article. Perhaps Dr. Hu can find out why the bassoon which is a double reed instrument sounds louder than a flute which the player blows air into a mouthpiece without a double reed?
5
@David--Offhand, I'd say that the flute is so much smaller that it doesn't have the capacity to make such a big sound. But then, a piccolo can be pretty darn loud--witness the chorus on Stars and Stripes Forever.
Resonance.
1
Few non-scientists understand the importance of modelling to the act of discovery. The skill to create an abstract model of an observed phenomenon is essential to understanding nature, but seldom taught in schools.
By "targeting silly problems" Hu cleverly engages students and then teaches them modelling of everyday things. His students are going to be far more open to learning than mine were. I made them model predator populations and electromagnetic fields. Wolf spiders are more fun.
18
I really enjoyed this article, and the introduction to Dr. Hu.
Luckily for science, he did his 'research' on the time it takes for an adult male human to pee while still a young man himself.
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