An associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan is encouraging his students to inquire into the possible health benefits of nose picking.
For the faint of heart and nose, best turn away now. There's a kicker.
Scott Napper wants his students to pick their noses, and then eat the boogers.
The informal study, which Napper designed as a way to engage students and teach them about the scientific process, involves dividing the classroom into two groups.
Napper hopes to insert some type of molecule into the noses of the student body. The students will be divided in half, and members of the experimental group will be assigned to eat their own boogers.
Scientific experiment aside, Napper is a staunch supporter of nose picking followed by booger eating.
"Nature pushes us to do different things because it is to our advantage to have certain behaviors, to consume different types of foods. So maybe when you have an urge like this to pick your nose and eat it, you should just go with nature," he said.
Napper hypothesizes that eating boogers may boost the immune system by introducing small and harmless--if revolting-- amounts of germs back into the body.
"I don't try to convert them all to biochemistry," Napper added. "My goal is always if I can teach you one thing that you're going to tell somebody else about outside the scope of this class, then I've prompted you to think a little bit, to question these things and I think with this example, it probably succeeded in that."
Without a doubt, Napper has succeeded in making his classroom exploration of the scientific process slightly more disgusting-- or, significantly more disgusting, if you happen to be placed in the experimental group.