Next time you’re trying to squeeze into your skinny jeans, it might pay to give physics a thought—because depending on how fast you’re travelling, you fat frame could look a little different. Randall Munroe explains in the mouse-over text of today’s XKCD:
“It’s commonly believed that Lorentz contraction makes objects appear flatter along the direction of travel. However, this ignores light travel times. In fact, a fast-moving butt would appear rotated toward the observer but not substantially distorted.”
Still, every little helps, right? Now you just need to find a spaceship that can go fast enough to make you look good. [XKCD]
