Well, the age-old question puzzling anatomists the world over has been raised once again: “Why do cartoon characters have only four fingers?”

The graduate students of the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory set out to explore it in their own special way… With cartoons of course.

The debate went on for several days, so I will spare you passage through all the stages of grief by simply presenting the conclusion to the matter in pictorial form, see Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Laboratory White Board/Devastated Area Post Debate [click to enlarge]

And now, the age-old question puzzling philosophers the world over is raised once again: “Do graduate students do anything useful?”

This idea came to me while I was peddling in the Track Town Power Station at the US Track & Field Olympic trials. In the Power Station, exercise bikes generated power which was stored in a large bank of batteries. Supposedly the setup was powering lights and TV’s in both the Power Station pavilion and on the main stage. It’s a really neat example of what’s possible, but will such a system become a practical household reality? Perhaps… But my question is: would, or could, the average American actually use such a system?