How hula hoops stay aloft

How hula hoops stay aloft

Author: PNAS March 10, 2025 Duration: 9:03

How hula hoops stay aloft

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Olivia Pomerenk reveals the physics of hula hooping.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[00:49] Applied mathematician Olivia Pomerenk talks about the history of hula hooping.
•[01:52] Pomerenk explains the fascinating nature of hula hoop motion as well as her own personal experiences with the children's toy.
•[02:44] She describes the experimental setup with robotic hula hoopers, as well as the mathematical model that arose from experiments.
•[04:44] Pomerenk enumerates the forces needed for successful hula hooping. 
•[05:51] She explains how body shape affects hula hooping.
•[07:17] She explores potential applications of the findings.
•[08:01] Pomerenk discusses the caveats and limitations of the study.
•[08:44] Conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Olivia Pomerenk
PhD Candidate
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2411588121

Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts for more captivating discussions on scientific breakthroughs!

Visit Science Sessions on PNAS.org: https://www.pnas.org/about/science-sessions-podcast 

Follow PNAS:
Twitter/X
Facebook 
LinkedIn
YouTube
Sign up for the PNAS Highlights newsletter


Tune into PNAS Science Sessions for a direct line to the people shaping modern science. Produced by PNAS, this podcast offers more than just summaries of published research; it’s where you hear the candid, often personal stories behind the headlines. Each episode features concise conversations with the researchers themselves-from emerging voices to established Academy members-alongside the policymakers whose decisions are informed by this work. You’ll get a genuine sense of the questions that drive these experts, the unexpected hurdles they face in their labs and field studies, and why their findings matter right now. The scope is deliberately wide, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of science itself, covering discoveries that range from microscopic processes to planetary-scale phenomena. This isn't about dry lectures, but about capturing the human endeavor of investigation. For anyone curious about how science actually unfolds and wants to understand the context of breakthroughs as they happen, this podcast serves as an essential, engaging resource. It connects the dots between a published paper in a prestigious journal and the real-world implications that ripple out from it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

PNAS Science Sessions
Podcast Episodes
Movies, neurons, and AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:39
How brains and AI systems process moving images Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific com…
Sustainability of plant-based meat alternatives [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:53
Sustainability of plant-based meat alternatives Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific com…
Plumeworld ocean and snowball Earth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:25
How Snowball Earth melted Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behi…
The curious case of the comb jelly [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:28
Reverse development in a comb jelly Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Lear…
Air pollution and economic mobility [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:36
Air pollution and upward mobility Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn…
Long-term impact of wildfire smoke pollution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:32
Nationwide effects of smoke-related air pollution Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific c…
Indigenous communities and subsistence whale hunting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:30
Indigenous hunting and beluga populations Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community…
Perceiving musical boundaries [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:06
The neuroscience of music perception Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Lea…
How python hearts grow and shrink [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:46
How python hearts grow and shrink Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn…
Neighborhood travel and racial segregation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:48
How people travel to racially different neighborhoods Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientif…