To keep a Hula-Hoop aloft, it helps to be in shape — literally. Experiments with gyrating, hoop-slinging robots have revealed how these spinning rings stay up despite the pull of gravity.

Some version of the Hula-Hoop has been around for millennia, but the popular plastic version was introduced by Wham-O in the 1950s and quickly became a fad. Now, researchers have taken a closer ...

Hula hooping is so commonplace that we may overlook some interesting questions it raises: "What keeps a hula hoop up against gravity?" and "Are some body types better for hula hooping than others?" ...

Hula hooping is so commonplace that we may overlook some interesting questions it raises: 'What keeps a hula hoop up against gravity?' and 'Are some body types better for hula hooping than others?' ...

Overlaid video frames reveal that an hourglass-shaped body successfully hula hoops. (Courtesy: NYU’s Applied Math Lab) Popularized in the late 1950s as a child’s toy, the hula hoop is undergoing ...

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 ...