Scientists identify the perfect hula hoop 'body type'

Hula hooping has remained a staple of modern US culture since the 1950s, but people around the world have participated in similar activities for thousands of years. The physics behind maintaining a perfect spin, however, has remained a mystery. Is it something that can be achieved by anyone with enough time and effort, or are there natural hula hoopers among us? Researchers recently investigated these dynamics using a specially designed, gyrating robot--and their findings provide the first-of-its-kind insight into the perfect spin. "Seemingly simple toys and games often involve surprisingly subtle physics and mathematics," a team from NYU's Applied Mathematics Laboratory wrote in their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.