TED Talks Daily Why your blood should flow like ketchup | Sean Farrington
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Nov 7, 2025 
Chemical engineer Sean Farrington, a PhD student passionate about blood rheology, argues that our blood should flow like ketchup. He shares fascinating insights on how everyday fluids like peanut butter and shampoo can help illustrate the principles of viscosity. Farrington emphasizes the critical link between high blood viscosity and serious health risks, advocating for blood rheology as a vital diagnostic tool. He also discusses his innovative work on a portable device to measure blood flow, aiming to make this life-saving technology accessible.
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Childhood Inspiration To Engineering
- Sean Farrington recounts how his uncle's aerospace stories inspired him to become an engineer.
- That early inspiration later led him into rheology and a PhD focused on saving lives through better measurements.
Rheology Explains Everyday Textures
- Rheology studies materials that are neither pure liquids nor solids and measures viscosity for intended function.
- It underpins product quality from shampoo to motor oil and cement by tuning flow and deformation properties.
Ketchup Demo Shows Flow Differences
- Sean demonstrates differences between peanut butter, shampoo, and ketchup to show non-Newtonian behavior.
- He flips beakers of ketchup to visibly show one brand drains much slower because of differing viscosity.