Can Roller Coasters Help You Pass Kidney Stones?

When I'm looking for stories for Strange But True in the morning I find a lot of results from surveys. Some of them are great discoveries in the world of science and health, and some of them have me scratching my head wondering why they wasted their time and money. A lot of times, when I see some of the studies being conducted, I wonder who would waste their money on some of the silly research projects. Maybe the people conducting the study are using their own finances and resources? I don't know.

This morning I found a list on Arts Technica, It was a list of this year's Ig Nobel prize winners. It's a lot like the Nobel Prize but some of these are some of the strangest and maybe even dumbest studies you will ever hear of. One study found that riding a roller coaster can help you pass a kidney stone. How does that work? Are you so scared on the roller coaster that you pee yourself and the kidney stone comes out? I don't know, I didn't read the research. I've never had kidney stones, but I know people who have had them and we're laying on the floor in pain and could not move. I don't think they would have even been able to sit in a roller coaster.

According to Arts Technica, another scientific paper was called "Colonoscopy in the Sitting Position: Lessons Learned from Self Colonoscopy". I wonder if any Federal grant move money was used in that study. There was also a study that wrapped postage stamps around a guy's genitalia to see if they got aroused while they were sleeping. And even if they did, what is the benefit of that research, we can do away with Viagra? Who even comes up with ideas like that?

Check out the full list on the Ars Technica website

[via Arts Technica]