Science Solves Age-Old Rip Or Peel Conundrum

Scientists in Queensland, Australia, stuck Band-Aids on 65 volunteers and ripped them off at varying speeds to discover how ouchy they felt. The results: It is, in fact, more painful to rip a Band-Aid off slowly than to give it one quick yank. But, “some other aspects of the results may cause more disputes than they solve: the tests showed that men rated plaster removal as 80 per cent more painful than did women, a finding the authors linked to thicker male body hair.” Tell me about it! Also: “The fact that scores were different between groups suggests that removal of dressings may be operator-dependent, and there may be skilled Band-Aid removers and less-skilled or unskilled Band-Aid removers,” noted the study’s author. Anyway, now you know!