What follows is a somewhat annotated version of a 2005 experiment from a pre-med student at an Anonymous University.
Jacob Powell
Heredity of Ticklish
Dr. Valerie's pre-medical heredity class
1/1/05
Although there are no doubts that tickling has it's purposes, the evolution of tickling, along with it's inherency in DNA, is still a matter of debate. One key issue lies in ticklishness- some people are not ticklish at all, and others must avoid shag carpeting at all costs.
What causes this stunning difference? A key theory lies in the belief that it is hereditary. To test this, one mother-daughter combination was tested, and after our results were found, we tested nearly a dozen other combinations. Only the first is given in full, for the fear of prolix writings.
The subject was one Rebecca Powell, a 42 year old homemaker. Mrs. Powell has a slender build, blonde, and is very careful in mantaining her appearance, both social and phsycial. The setting was her house -reclined on a sofa, barefoot, wearing her silk pajamas. At 11 in the morning, the woman was accosted by the scientist, her step-son, who she was (understandably) very close with. The scientist asked her questions relating to her ticklishness - her answers were vague. luckily, nothing was given away about the impending experiment.
The scientist left briefly. Once she returned to her magazine, the scientist quickly bound her ankles, and then wrists with duct tape. There was struggling and bewildered statements, which were answered only with "it's all in the interest of science". THe scientist held her ankles between his legs, as to stop any threat of thrashing.
With only a few finger movements up her feet, the experimentor was able to emit a few giggles, but a bit more tickling led to full fledged laughs. Regular paced tickling led to much toe curling and uncurling, along with thrashing of her torso and arms. Luckily, her wrists were bounds, and the experimentor (captor, as well) had a tight enough hold to the point where she could not hurt him. The laughter caused an echo in the house.
a brief respite from tickling allowed for heavy breathing. Obviously, the victim was extremely ticklish. However, her daughter still needed testing to prove any hypothesis.
An error was made at this point in the experiment - the scientist had left Mrs. Powell by herself, forgetting she was not bound to anything in particular. He left to find Ms. Powell, an 18 yr. old high school senior, however, a few calls of her name yeilded nothing.
He returne to continue tickling on Mrs. Powell and found her gone. A quick search of the house revealed Mrs. Powell in the kitchen, trying to find a knife. the scientists grabbed her, picked her up, and carried her over to a chair. He sat her in the chair and quickly wrapped high-quality bungee rope to bind her to the chair. Along the way, the scientist mentioned this was purposed for a science project, but gave no specifics.
There was enough clothed torso for the tickling to move upward. The scientist, to change things up, began tickling quickly, instead of starting slow. High pitched shrieks, interspersed with brief laughter sessions, started. Mrs. Powell made screams of a slightly higher decibel rating than before, indictating she was more ticklish on her ribs.
Suddenly, the front door began to open. Ms. Powell had returned. Mrs. Powell's captor gagged her quickly, to duplicate the binding of Mrs. Powell onto Ms. Powell - done in complete science. He moved toward the front door and hid behind it.
Ms. Powell had run out to breakfast with some friends - she was dressed casually, wearing sweat pants, a tight t-shirt, and flip flops.
Ms. Powell, physically, does not resemble her mother much. she is more athletic, has brown hair, and larger breasts. Even her nail polish (black) differed from her mother's (red). Her mother's cries for help (or possibly more, we're actually not certain) were unheard by her daughter, who went straight to her room, put on her ipod, and relaxed... on her four poster bed. Yes, the situation could not be more perfect.
Scientist 1 (which sounds less creepy than The Scientist, I just noticed) snuck in carefully. Ms. Powell was now lightly dozing. Slowly but surely, each of her appendages were bound to one poster of the four poster bed. A test of tickling was then administered. Scientist 1 tickled her left foot, to see if she could be awoken as such. She could.
Scientist 1 explained nothing upon her awakening, and just continued to tickle the left foot, solely. MUCH laughter ensued - in fact, tears were emitted after a short amount of time, in a small amount. Ms. Powell continued to thrash wildly and question what was happening, however the tickling continued. Her right foot was just as ticklish, although this foot was more sensitive to tickling between the toes.
Rib tickling ran much the same as Mrs. Powell's, although scientist 1 removed her shirt for the sake of science (it's probably worth mentioning she's his step-sister.) Tickling on the bare ribs, although not necessary, as it was not done on Mrs. Powell, was more entertaining, to say the least. By the end of the tickling, the bed had moved 6 inches to the right.
Upon tickles end, Ms. Powell was sweating heavily. Although the scientist had confounded his experiment here - after all, he had not tickled Mrs. Powell on her bare ribs, only clothed. He placed a quickly duct tape gag on Ms. Powell (who was protesting heavily), and headed downstairs again.
Mrs. Powell had given up struggling. She saw the scientist heading down the stairs toward her. he stopped in front of her, and they just stared. she smiled under her gag, and scientist 1 lifted her pajama top a bit, exposing her bare ribs. tickling here emitted screams- screams that sounded just like those from ms. powell. He tickled from behind with both hands, as she thrashed around back and forth, giggling all the while, and trying to unbind her wrists.
After a few minutes of tickling, Mrs. Powell's breathing staggered a bit, but returned to normal after a few seconds of rest. Scientist 1 blindfolded Mrs. Powell (for no reason, admittedly) and went to the fridge for a beer, which he victoriously drank in front of his jealous step-sist- er, ms. powell.
Mrs. Powell and Ms. Powell, though they differ in physical and mental stature, do share one common ground. They are both extremely ticklish - in fact, Ms. Powell is slightly MORE ticklish, showing that ticklishness may increase as generations pass on. The cases on page two [Transcribers note: now lost], summarized in one brief paragraph per case, support this idea.
One more case must be described in full, for complete understanding of ticklish hereditary. One Mrs...
[Transcribers note 2: the rest of this case has been lost. Maybe if I uh... "find"... the rest of it, I'll put it up here. That all depends on the reception to this slightly different story.]
Jacob Powell
Heredity of Ticklish
Dr. Valerie's pre-medical heredity class
1/1/05
Although there are no doubts that tickling has it's purposes, the evolution of tickling, along with it's inherency in DNA, is still a matter of debate. One key issue lies in ticklishness- some people are not ticklish at all, and others must avoid shag carpeting at all costs.
What causes this stunning difference? A key theory lies in the belief that it is hereditary. To test this, one mother-daughter combination was tested, and after our results were found, we tested nearly a dozen other combinations. Only the first is given in full, for the fear of prolix writings.
The subject was one Rebecca Powell, a 42 year old homemaker. Mrs. Powell has a slender build, blonde, and is very careful in mantaining her appearance, both social and phsycial. The setting was her house -reclined on a sofa, barefoot, wearing her silk pajamas. At 11 in the morning, the woman was accosted by the scientist, her step-son, who she was (understandably) very close with. The scientist asked her questions relating to her ticklishness - her answers were vague. luckily, nothing was given away about the impending experiment.
The scientist left briefly. Once she returned to her magazine, the scientist quickly bound her ankles, and then wrists with duct tape. There was struggling and bewildered statements, which were answered only with "it's all in the interest of science". THe scientist held her ankles between his legs, as to stop any threat of thrashing.
With only a few finger movements up her feet, the experimentor was able to emit a few giggles, but a bit more tickling led to full fledged laughs. Regular paced tickling led to much toe curling and uncurling, along with thrashing of her torso and arms. Luckily, her wrists were bounds, and the experimentor (captor, as well) had a tight enough hold to the point where she could not hurt him. The laughter caused an echo in the house.
a brief respite from tickling allowed for heavy breathing. Obviously, the victim was extremely ticklish. However, her daughter still needed testing to prove any hypothesis.
An error was made at this point in the experiment - the scientist had left Mrs. Powell by herself, forgetting she was not bound to anything in particular. He left to find Ms. Powell, an 18 yr. old high school senior, however, a few calls of her name yeilded nothing.
He returne to continue tickling on Mrs. Powell and found her gone. A quick search of the house revealed Mrs. Powell in the kitchen, trying to find a knife. the scientists grabbed her, picked her up, and carried her over to a chair. He sat her in the chair and quickly wrapped high-quality bungee rope to bind her to the chair. Along the way, the scientist mentioned this was purposed for a science project, but gave no specifics.
There was enough clothed torso for the tickling to move upward. The scientist, to change things up, began tickling quickly, instead of starting slow. High pitched shrieks, interspersed with brief laughter sessions, started. Mrs. Powell made screams of a slightly higher decibel rating than before, indictating she was more ticklish on her ribs.
Suddenly, the front door began to open. Ms. Powell had returned. Mrs. Powell's captor gagged her quickly, to duplicate the binding of Mrs. Powell onto Ms. Powell - done in complete science. He moved toward the front door and hid behind it.
Ms. Powell had run out to breakfast with some friends - she was dressed casually, wearing sweat pants, a tight t-shirt, and flip flops.
Ms. Powell, physically, does not resemble her mother much. she is more athletic, has brown hair, and larger breasts. Even her nail polish (black) differed from her mother's (red). Her mother's cries for help (or possibly more, we're actually not certain) were unheard by her daughter, who went straight to her room, put on her ipod, and relaxed... on her four poster bed. Yes, the situation could not be more perfect.
Scientist 1 (which sounds less creepy than The Scientist, I just noticed) snuck in carefully. Ms. Powell was now lightly dozing. Slowly but surely, each of her appendages were bound to one poster of the four poster bed. A test of tickling was then administered. Scientist 1 tickled her left foot, to see if she could be awoken as such. She could.
Scientist 1 explained nothing upon her awakening, and just continued to tickle the left foot, solely. MUCH laughter ensued - in fact, tears were emitted after a short amount of time, in a small amount. Ms. Powell continued to thrash wildly and question what was happening, however the tickling continued. Her right foot was just as ticklish, although this foot was more sensitive to tickling between the toes.
Rib tickling ran much the same as Mrs. Powell's, although scientist 1 removed her shirt for the sake of science (it's probably worth mentioning she's his step-sister.) Tickling on the bare ribs, although not necessary, as it was not done on Mrs. Powell, was more entertaining, to say the least. By the end of the tickling, the bed had moved 6 inches to the right.
Upon tickles end, Ms. Powell was sweating heavily. Although the scientist had confounded his experiment here - after all, he had not tickled Mrs. Powell on her bare ribs, only clothed. He placed a quickly duct tape gag on Ms. Powell (who was protesting heavily), and headed downstairs again.
Mrs. Powell had given up struggling. She saw the scientist heading down the stairs toward her. he stopped in front of her, and they just stared. she smiled under her gag, and scientist 1 lifted her pajama top a bit, exposing her bare ribs. tickling here emitted screams- screams that sounded just like those from ms. powell. He tickled from behind with both hands, as she thrashed around back and forth, giggling all the while, and trying to unbind her wrists.
After a few minutes of tickling, Mrs. Powell's breathing staggered a bit, but returned to normal after a few seconds of rest. Scientist 1 blindfolded Mrs. Powell (for no reason, admittedly) and went to the fridge for a beer, which he victoriously drank in front of his jealous step-sist- er, ms. powell.
Mrs. Powell and Ms. Powell, though they differ in physical and mental stature, do share one common ground. They are both extremely ticklish - in fact, Ms. Powell is slightly MORE ticklish, showing that ticklishness may increase as generations pass on. The cases on page two [Transcribers note: now lost], summarized in one brief paragraph per case, support this idea.
One more case must be described in full, for complete understanding of ticklish hereditary. One Mrs...
[Transcribers note 2: the rest of this case has been lost. Maybe if I uh... "find"... the rest of it, I'll put it up here. That all depends on the reception to this slightly different story.]
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