Latest revision as of 06:19, 3 January 2026

Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3199 xkcd comics, and only 64 (2%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

Go to this explanation

Latest comic[edit]

Tensegrity

Title text: Some people argue that the tension and compression in the human skeleton is technically tensegrity, but it's missing the defining characteristic: making people say 'wtf, how is that thing floating?' when they see it.

Explanation[edit]

This is incomplete:
This page was created by a string. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Tensegrity structures are structures that are suspended using a combination of rigid and compressional components, usually a series of rods and strings that give the illusion of a floating object held up by the strings. Buckminster Fuller coined the term tensegrity from the words "tensional integrity" (see here), and Steve Mould describes the mechanism in this video.

Randall makes the claim that there are animals that exist which use tensegrity in their anatomy, naming the (fictional) "Buckminster's Giraffe" as an example. The panel shows each leg of the giraffe using a structure similar to that of a tensegrity table. Some people consider giraffe to be an example of a body form that appears to defy their expectations of physical laws, because of their unusually long legs and neck, as compared to the body.

The title text brings up the argument that humans themselves use tensegrity in our anatomy. Randall, however, deems that this doesn't count due to lacking the "defining characteristic" of a tensegrity structure - namely, that its stiff bits appear to be 'floating' by being suspending on a bunch of flexible bits. Humans, thanks to our skin and other various layers, outwardly look like a single solid structure, unlike the giraffe in the comic.

Transcript[edit]

This is one of 35 incomplete transcripts:
Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Cueball stands at the left of the panel, and at the right is a giraffe-like animal whose legs appear to be made of a tensegrity structure, with disconnected segments held together by strings]

[Caption below the panel:]

While tensegrity is rare in the animal kingdom, a few species, such as Buckminster's Giraffe, are known to employ it.

Add comment

Create topic (use sparingly)

Refresh

Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

yum yum ^{[citation needed]}

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

This is the leaderboard:

Last 7 days (Top 50)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	23	19	23	TheusafBOT
2	21	13	31	FaviFake
3	7	3	8	PDesbeginner
4	7	3	8	Lordpishky
5	7	5	6	R128
6	7	3	7	DollarStoreBa'al
7	7	3	7	1234231587678
8	7	2	8	RadiantRainwing
9	6	3	6	BunsenH
10	5	2	5	TheTrainsKid
11	5	2	4	Treeplate
12	4	4	4	Qwertyuiopfromdefly
13	4	4	4	Utdtutyabthsc
14	4	2	3	King Pando
15	4	2	3	Michael Innes
16	4	1	3	Michael James Moore
17	3	1	2	These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For
18	3	1	2	DownGoer
19	3	1	2	Jordan Olling
20	3	3	3	𰻝𱁬
21	3	1	2	NotBob
22	2	2	2	Barry Margolin
23	2	2	2	User 8496351
24	2	2	2	Kynde
25	2	2	2	KelOfTheStars!
26	2	2	2	Coconut Galaxy
27	1	1	1	Youforgotthisthing
28	1	1	1	BytEfLUSh
29	1	1	1	CreatorOfWorlds
30	1	1	1	Kivi Shapiro
31	1	1	1	Aaron of Mpls
32	1	1	1	Paul
33	1	1	1	August Fuller
34	1	1	1	Woofwooffire
35	1	1	1	Heleatunda
36	1	1	1	Cobl703
37	1	1	1	Tanner07
38	1	1	1	Israbelle
39	1	1	1	Jeremy Pereira
40	1	1	1	Pssst78
41	1	1	1	Steve Spivey
42	1	1	1	JimJJewett
43	1	1	1	Potatocakethrow
44	1	1	1	Alan Frank
45	1	1	1	Aufa
46	1	1	1	Lxylxy123456
47	1	1	1	Jarochar
48	1	1	1	Bateleur
49	1	1	1	TheErgster

Add comment

View comic discussion

New here?[edit]

Last 30 days (Top 10)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	265	263	264	管委会篝火无法解放军“赐额“你去呢管理哦法？
2	129	114	173	DollarStoreBa'al
3	81	71	96	TheusafBOT
4	39	30	52	FaviFake
5	33	26	39	R128
6	26	20	28	1234231587678
7	25	16	37	Kynde
8	24	13	43	BunsenH
9	22	5	75	Firestar233
10	21	11	36	Barry Margolin

Lots of people contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have just joined. You can do it too! Create your account here.

You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.

If you're new to wiki editing, see the explain xkcd:Editor FAQ for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on how to edit wiki pages. There's also a handy wikicode cheatsheet.

Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the Community portal.

You can browse the comics from the list of all comics or by navigating the category tree at Category:Comics.

The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!

Rules[edit]

Don't be a jerk!

There are a lot of comics that don't have set-in-stone explanations; feel free to put multiple interpretations in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, use its discussion page.

Please only submit material directly related to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that can legally be posted and freely edited. Off-topic or other inappropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked.

If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.

6 January 2026

17:35

Talk:3189: Conic Sections‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+285)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 163.116.145.34‎]

17:35

(cur | prev) . . (+149)‎ . . 163.116.145.34 (talk)

10:36

(cur | prev) . . (+136)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

		N 17:29	Talk:3190: Tensegrity‎‎ (11 changes \| history) . . (+2,733)‎ . . [Qwertyuiopfromdefly‎; King Pando‎; Coconut Galaxy‎; TheusafBOT‎; Barmar‎; 92.23.2.208‎; 82.13.184.33‎; 104.185.183.165‎; 76.187.17.7‎ (3×)]
			17:29 (cur \| prev) . . (+787)‎ . . 92.23.2.208 (talk)
			15:38 (cur \| prev) . . (+48)‎ . . Barmar (talk \| contribs)
			14:39 (cur \| prev) . . (+161)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			11:37 (cur \| prev) . . (+629)‎ . . 104.185.183.165 (talk) (comment about giraffes)
			08:29 (cur \| prev) . . (+161)‎ . . Coconut Galaxy (talk \| contribs)
			05:00 (cur \| prev) . . (+25)‎ . . 76.187.17.7 (talk) (Ruth Asawa - link to Wikipedia)
			04:59 (cur \| prev) . . (+300)‎ . . 76.187.17.7 (talk) (One of Buckminster's student's works is sometimes described as "earrings for a giraffe.")
			04:56 (cur \| prev) . . (+137)‎ . . 76.187.17.7 (talk) (colon-ization)
		m	04:00 (cur \| prev) . . (+191)‎ . . King Pando (talk \| contribs)
		m	03:52 (cur \| prev) . . (+181)‎ . . Qwertyuiopfromdefly (talk \| contribs) (commented)
		N	03:15 (cur \| prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk \| contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3190)

		17:06	Talk:3188: Anyone Else Here‎‎ (4 changes \| history) . . (+352)‎ . . [Bateleur‎; 82.13.184.33‎; These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For‎ (2×)]
			17:06 (cur \| prev) . . (+84)‎ . . Bateleur (talk \| contribs)
			10:22 (cur \| prev) . . (-39)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
		m	04:01 (cur \| prev) . . (+7)‎ . . These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk \| contribs)
			03:58 (cur \| prev) . . (+300)‎ . . These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk \| contribs) (Snarking a snarker.)