Rollercoasters can cure kidney stones, scientists learn

'It literally rattles the stone loose', claims researcher

The scientists who discovered hopping on a rollercoaster ride is an effective way to cure kidney stones were among those recognised at this year’s Ig Nobel awards.

The prize-giving ceremony at Harvard University — organised by the US magazine Annals of Improbable Research — celebrates strange-but-true scientific findings.

The prize for medicine was awarded to US researchers looking at the efficiency of rollercoasters in helping people pass kidney stones more quickly.

Professor David Wartinger, of Michigan State University, began exploring the subject when one of his patients had a kidney stone dislodged by the Thunder Mountain ride at Disney World in Florida.

The medical scientist then built a model of the renal system and tested it out on various rides to prove the theory. He now recommends a “quick and rough” rollercoaster ride to anyone suffering with kidney stones.

“It literally rattles the stone loose,” Professor Wartinger said.

“Anybody who’s trying to generate benefit from our research should be looking for a rollercoaster, which doesn’t have to be fast, but you want a rollercoaster that is quick and rough with a lot of up-and-down and side-to-side motion,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“In fact, the really fast coasters that go 100mph and drop hundreds of feet don’t really work very well.

“I can’t tell you about a general consensus, but I can tell you that for the last decade that we’ve been aware of this research, we’ve recommended it for our patients with great success.”

Nobel Laureates were on hand to present prizes at the 28th annual Ig Nobel ceremony, dedicated to unusual yet entirely practical scientific work. The organisers honour findings that “make you laugh, then make you think”.

A group of international researchers who showed wine experts can reliably identify the presence of a single fly in a glass of wine by smell alone were awarded the prize for biology.

A Japanese doctor who devised a “self-colonoscopy” technique won the medical education prize, while Spanish researchers won the “peace prize” for measuring the effects of swearing while driving.

Dr James Cole, an archaeology lecturer from the University of Brighton, was also recognised, taking home the nutrition prize for quantifying the calorific value of eating a human body.

After finding other animals provided much greater calorie return, he questioned the idea that human ancestors devoured members of their own species for strictly nutritional reasons.

“It is possible that some of our ancestors may have eaten members of their own species out of necessity – but it is more likely perhaps to think of the cannibalism act within a social framework rather than a nutritional one,” he said.