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Professor Quippy: Mr. Floppy goes to engineering school

Professor QuippyI’m not sure how to react to the research by Daniel Udelson, a research urologist and professor of aerospace engineering at Boston University. On the one hand, erectile dysfunction (ED) is a serious problem and can have devastating effects, so getting to the root of the problem is to be applauded. (I guess that’s the sound of one hand clapping.)

He is using a 200-year-old engineering formula to predict when a gent’s apparatus might be likely to collapse under structural stress, so to speak.

On the other hand, I’m not to sure that I’d ever like to participate in his work myself, particularly after I read this description of the treatment the research subjects were treated to:

Udelson tested the model against 57 men with erectile dysfunction. Each was measured by slowly injecting their penises with saline solution until erect. Udelson then applied a force to the tip of the penis until it started to bend, the first sign of buckling.

The good news is that “buckling” can also be predicted by the shape of the “tunnel”. So, where one “passageway” might cause “column” collapse, others may prove a better fit, so to speak.

And that’s the sound of two hands clapping. Clapping, you naughty reader!

Gory details here