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SHOCK STUDY: Certain types of rollercoaster rides can dislodge kidney stones (Pic: GETTY STOCK)
Prof David Wartinger, of Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, made the surprising discovery after hearing a bizarre story from one of his patients.
The patient, diagnosed with kidney stones, told him they had dislodged one after a ride on Big Thunder Mountain in Disney World Florida.
Aware it might be coincidence, they round again and again and allegedly every time… out popped a stone.
It is not clear how the patient was aware a stone had passed, but they usually come out (painfully) in urine.
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OUCH: Kidney stones are usually made from calcium oxalate and this one measures 8mm (Pic: GETTY)
Prof Wartinger decided to put the strange tale to the test the way only a top scientist can.
Armed with a silicone model of his patients renal system which he built himself and artificial kidney stones, the professor went on many different types of rollercoaster.
The results were conclusive: Big Thunder Mountain triumphed as the most effective stone-remover.
Prof Wartinger also found that frightening rides with big drops were less effective than “rattling” ones with side-to-side and up-down motion.
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STUDY: Rollercoasters that rattle work better than ones with big dips for kidney stone removal (Pic: GETTY STOCK)
It was this research that won the professor an Ig Nobel prize.
The Ig Nobel prizes are awarded every year for the oddest and funniest scientific studies — as long as they are still deemed useful and published in proper science journals.
The exception are tongue-in-cheek nominees, such as The Bangkok Metropolitan Police who won the Ig Nobel for Economics in 2015 for offering to pay policemen extra cash if they refused to take bribes.
Another highlight from this year were a team of Swedish biologists who discovered wine experts could reliably tell if a fly was in a glass of wine only using their sense of smell.
As usual, acceptance speeches were strictly limited to 60 seconds, which is enforced by an eight-year-old girl saying "please stop I'm bored" until the speaker desists.
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