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This is the year that we got ever closer to solving Amelia Earhart's mystery and bringing a close to an American ban on Cuban tourism. It also marks a turning point in the ongoing pursuit for answers regarding airplane flatulence.
For our juvenile purposes we will focus on the latter.
BBC's David Robson, one believes with a straight face, interviewed Jacob Rosenberg who serves at the University of Copenhagen as a clinical professor. The subject of their discourse was airplane gasiness, the causes, effects and solutions to the normal human annoyance.
It's a brief and wholly intriguing exploration on the how, what and why of the stomach gurgling you feel right after take off-something that is apparently felt by a reported 60 percent of bloated pilots as well.
You are not alone, my dear exasperated friends. To that end, we have a full BBC report on farts. So let's dive in.
According to the report, a great many people feel some sort of bloating while flying about the world. Well, it's apparently not the excitement for new experiences. According to the good professor, it's all about air pressure.
Rosenberg tells Robson, "The pressure drops and the air must expand into more space."
D News actually spoke to this very thing earlier in the year, explaining how the difference in air pressure invokes a sense of bloating and subsequent need to toot.
Robson writes, "That 1 litre of gas now needs to fill a 30% bigger volume, leading to that nasty bloating feeling," so blame your body's annoying acclimation to life at sea level for any embarrassing situations up in the air.
Apropos of little, I did want to offer this little nugget in the report that seems perfectly suitable for dinner conversation:
"Despite popular belief, studies show men are not more flatulent than women, for example (though they may be more public about it); in fact the same study from the late 90s found women's flatulence has a higher concentration of the smelly sulphurous compounds, and was rated as having a more potent odour by a few unlucky judges."
You never really know when or where life's little treasures will be found. In any case, we head back to the important part of the report, which is how to stave off the smelly odors of passengers apathetic to holding their farts.
Just as the charcoal in your water filter siphons out the impurities so to can it dissipate the unpleasant odor of someone's lunch. Suggestions include charcoal in the seats as well as airplane blankets. After some trips, we might be amenable to a full section of the plane devoted to charcoal.
Now the report states airlines already use charcoal in air filters, which helps in ridding some smell. The report continues, "Airlines also tend to make sure the in-flight food is low in fibre, but high in carbohydrates - a balance that is more likely to calm our digestion."
Though please don't think for a second that this is a purely passenger problem. The Huffington Post's article on flight attendant lingo had an unsavory entry: "Crop dusting - When a flight attendant takes a stroll down the aisle to let out gas."
So it seems we are getting more than just free peanuts at 35,000 feet.
In any case, this has us all the more comfortable in our own occasional flatulent predicament. It certainly seems like everything about modern aviation is uncomfortable. From reclining the seats to ridding the gas, we are all in this together.
So let's all let out a collective sigh…but try not to breath in.
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