Scientific research, folks in white lab coats, gleaming laboratories, occasional Eureka moments interspersed with hours of work – still sounds interesting if not glamorous. But sometimes, science requires more dedication, more sacrifice. Two physicians made the effort studying the effect of Thunder Mountain, a Disney World roller coaster, on kidney stones – small crystals that form in your kidneys.
The study
The authors built a 3-D model of a kidney and ureter, the anatomic tube that connects the kidney to the bladder. The model faithfully recreated the kidney's "collection system," the pathway a kidney stone takes as it follows urine out of the body. They wanted to know whether these crystals or stones would move because of outside forces, like those...
