Jennifer R. Vail

And if you look through patents throughout the years,

formulas of crayons have been continuously changing because they're constantly finding new ways to optimize that balance of pigment and Smooth stroke and ability to use the crayons that you don't even notice that you're using a very interesting friction gadget This is kind of a weird question, but do you see the world?

That's a fantastic question.

And I'm laughing because I sort of joke that it's a curse that I want to spread to everyone.

And I do I see the world through all of these tribological interactions.

And it sometimes comes to haunt me because if I happen to trip, someone around me will be like, Oh, it's a shame we don't have a friction expert here that could have saved you that trouble.

But yes, once you start learning a bit about friction, you start to see it everywhere.

Makes it fascinating, but sometimes I do wish I could turn it off a little bit.

I think a lot of people...

If they think about friction, they actually do associate it with things that squeak, squeaky hinges.

And that squeaky wheel is definitely a friction problem.

I notice friction even when I'm getting dressed and feeling the fabric over my arm.

You can feel if the fabric in your arm has higher or lower friction.

You probably don't notice it at all.

I definitely do.

So that's sort of all the different ways that friction will come to haunt me.

But the squeaky wheel is definitely a big one and a nuisance.

It's a question that tribologists don't have 100% answer for.

They're still investigating it.

So there's still a lot we need to learn about friction.