Banana slipping research wins award
Research into why banana skin is slippery when stepped on won the Ig Nobel physics prize, the spoof awards for research that makes people laugh or think.
Scientists from the Kitasato University in Japan measured the friction of banana skin and showed why apple and orange peel are not as hazardous.
Kiyoshi Mabuchi, who led the research, said: “Shortly after banana was imported to North America in the mid-nineteenth century, it became common sense that banana skin is slippery and sometimes causes accidental slip.”
There had to be some academic interest in how much friction under banana skin was needed to result in slipping, Mabuchi claimed.