Author Topic: Q: What's 1 foot square, flat, covered in hair, and greasy? (Read 7,066 times)

Ralf Maximus · « **on:** November 22, 2007, 12:23 AM »

A: The answer to San Francisco's recent oil spill

http://www.60secondscience.com/archive/environment-energy-climate-news/hair-mat-madness-a-home-grown.php#more

Apparently what you've suspected all your life is correct: you're using the wrong hair conditioner. No, wait, that's not it... here it is. Apparently human hair has tremendous abilities to soak up oil, due to its scaly cracked nature.

So the clever citizens of San Francisco, California are deploying 2000 1x1 foot mats of human hair, all harvested from sleeping homeless people. No, wait... harvested from... it really doesn't say. But anyway, they're deploying the mats and cleaning up the spill, then tossing them into the world's largest dumpster or something.

No wait, here it is... they take the discarded mats and seed them with fungi, which eats the organics and leaves behind rich, fertile soil. No, I am not making this up: tragic oil spill --> giant floating mats of human hair --> fertile top soil.

Which they'll use to grow corn to convert into biodiesel and the Circle of Life will be complete.

justice · « **Reply #1 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:24 AM »

Maybe they can grow hair for the baldies on that fertile top soil.

Darwin · « **Reply #2 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:26 AM »

Cool. Thanks for sharing that, Ralf. 60 Second Science site looks worth re-visiting as well

Lashiec · « **Reply #3 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:37 AM »

Q: What's 1 foot square, flat, covered in hair, and greasy?

A: A hair metal singer whose best days have long gone into the oblivion

That leaves Jon Bon Jovi out... no, wait, almost any other hair metal singer out. Back to topic, so this is an interesting thing, I wonder if we could grown artificial hair in laboratories so we could use it when petrol "spills" over coasts and oceans.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #4 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:40 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on November 22, 2007, 12:26 AM

Cool. Thanks for sharing that, Ralf. 60 Second Science site looks worth re-visiting as well

60 Second Science has been set up by Scientific American - so it should be really good. Sign up to the Podcast!

Lashiec · « **Reply #5 on:** November 22, 2007, 12:44 AM »

And they have sense of humour as well. Check out the photo under the article "Woman born with half a brain functions fine, sets sights on acting, rehab"