Nobody tosses a Dwarf! – Modelling Gimli being tossed by Aragorn

Gimli the Dwarf, a character from The Lord of the Rings, is at one point in the film series tossed by Aragorn into enemies to help buy time for a frantic gate repair at Helm’s Deep. In this paper, the amount of force that Aragorn produces to perform this feat is calculated. By using a number of assumptions and simple physical models, the force with which Gimli was thrown by Aragorn was calculated to be 2767 N, a significant exertion

Are the Hometrees in James Cameron’s Avatar Structurally Possible?

In James Cameron’s Avatar, the Hometree is a sacred home for the Na’vi clans. These “trees” are said to be made of several thinner trees which have grown together to form a larger structure, suitable for its inhabitants. On Earth, the largest trees are significantly smaller (by almost a third). This paper concludes that factors such as reduced gravity result in only 22,100 N m-2­ of compression, low enough to allow the tree to stand.

Revealing the Magic of Skele-Gro

This paper investigates the extent to which Skele-Gro increases the rate of normal bone growth by comparing the regrowth of Harry’s arm bones to the rate of regeneration of bone in a fracture. The amount of energy provided by Skele-Gro is also determined. We find that the rate of bone growth is at least 90 times greater than that of a fracture repair and that the amount of energy that Skele-Gro supplies to do this is a minimum of 133,050 kcal. The lower estimate of Skele-Gro’s power output is therefore 6443 W

How Might the Force Work?

This paper studies how Yoda’s use of the Force (as depicted by the Star Wars series of films) may relate to the energy gained through biological processes. Using a power output of 19.2 kW when Yoda lifts an X-Wing and ignoring ATP recycling, it was found that the hydrolysis of all the ATP both initially present and able to be created in Yoda’s body would not be sufficient to provide the energy for this feat. Therefore Yoda either draws on another form of energy storage in his body, or uses some unexplained aspect of the Force

The Validity, Time Burden, and User Satisfaction of the FoodImage\u3csup\u3eTM\u3c/sup\u3e Smartphone App for Food Waste Measurement Versus Diaries: A Randomized Crossover Trial

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The FoodImageTM smartphone app transmits users’ photographs of food selection and food waste to researchers, and includes user-tagged information about waste reasons and destination. Twenty-four participants were trained to record food waste using FoodImage, food waste diaries requiring visual estimation of waste quantities, and diaries requiring scale weights. Participants used each method during three staged food-waste scenarios (food preparation, eating, and clean-out) in a randomized crossover trial. Two participants had extreme values for the weighed diary method; therefore, accuracy results are reported with and without these two participants’ data. Error was calculated as waste estimated with the experimental method minus directly weighed waste. Mean absolute error from FoodImage was significantly smaller than or equal to the error from both diary methods in each scenario. Furthermore, the mean values from FoodImage were equivalent to directly weighed values in two out of the three tasks; while weighed diaries were equivalent in two tasks only when the two participants with extreme values were removed. Visually estimated diaries were equivalent for only one task. All 24 participants preferred FoodImage to diaries and all rated FoodImage as less time consuming. Over one week, FoodImage would require ~24 fewer minutes of users’ time to record all data. Unlike food waste diaries, FoodImage also transmits data to researchers in real-time and provides detailed data on food selection and intake