The Barf Bag Episode
4/29/202650 min
What can a humble airplane sick bag teach us about physics, engineering, and the limits of the human stomach; And why are there people out there collecting thousands of them? Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce’s Michael Stevens turn an unlikely holiday prompt into a surprisingly rich exploration of flight. From the biology of motion sickness to the physics of turbulence, and from exploding crisp packets to next-generation aircraft design, they unpack how flying messes with your body and how science has made it (mostly) better.
For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.
Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by clicking here.
Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek Animator: Sam Benson Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe Producer: Simona Rata Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsHannah Fry· Host0:01
Welcome to The Rest is Science. I'm Hannah Fry.
Michael Stevens· Host0:03
And I'm Michael Stevens.
Hannah Fry· Host0:04
I think we should probably tell the listeners/view- viewers the origin of, um, today's Field Notes episode, uh, because I am, uh, currently on holiday in Greece and, uh, as we were discussing what I could possibly do that was holiday related, our producer suggested that [laughs] we just grab something on the way and we do an episode on sick bags. At which point, Michael Stevens, would you like to, um, would you like to tell the audience what you told us?
Michael Stevens· Host0:32
Well, yeah, I said, "Hey, I collect sick bags, barf bags from airplanes," 'cause they change periodically, and it's a history. Someone needs to be documenting this. Um, and some of them are quite cute. So my collection hap- some of it happens to be here. So, uh, d- do you, do you collect them, too?
Hannah Fry· Host0:51
Only the very plain white one that I picked off a BA flight on the way here. I can't say, I can't say that I, uh... By the way, this makes you a bagist. Do you know this? There's, there's an entire community of, of you guys.
Michael Stevens· Host1:02
Well, yeah.
Hannah Fry· Host1:02
I'm now joining you as a, as a bagist with my, my... I mean, it's quite a pathetic entry being entirely plain white.
Michael Stevens· Host1:08
Well, I don't have a British Airways, uh, bag in my collection. Maybe when I come out to London, could you give me that one?
Hannah Fry· Host1:16
Deal. H- how many do you have in your collection, Michael?
Michael Stevens· Host1:19
I honestly, I only probably have a couple dozen. It's, it's not very impressive. There are people who are doing a much better job than me.
Hannah Fry· Host1:26
There are. In fact, there's a great rivalry at the, at the very heart of the bagist community.