The Flight of the Potatoes

When Boeing tested its new in-flight Wi-Fi system, they needed passengers in the plane to simulate the presence of bodies and how those bodies interfered with the signal. But instead of human passengers, they used something much easier to deal with -20,000 pounds of potatoes!

"The vegetables' interactions with radio-wave signals mimic those of the human body," a video from Boeing explains.

They labeled the test SPUDS: Synthetic Personnel Using Dielectric Substitution.

The potatoes were later donated to a food bank. Read all about the simulation at the Atlantic. Link -via Ed Yong