Remember that scene near the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi when an entrenched Resistance fighter dips his hand onto the surface of Crait, licks his finger, spits, and says, “Salt”?
A geophysicist by the name of Mika McKinnon has dug deeper into the significance of the action, explaining the practice of licking rocks, which is apparently a common practice among those who study the composition of the Earth for a living.
“I’m feeling weirdly hurt by the viral tweet mocking geoscientists for licking rocks. I get that we’re a bit weird even for scientists and get a bit more blunt with our toolset, but licking rocks is a real strategy. Taste & texture are diagnostic,” McKinnon commented via her Twitter.
Read more at SyFy Wire.
Check out her Tweets after the jump.
Epilogue:
Q: But what about that salt-licking scene in Last Jedi? Surely that was ridiculous!
A: No. That was plausible bordering on geo fan service.And it’s tactically important to know what rocks encompass you unless you’re a fan of dumb ways to die. pic.twitter.com/aaayanVa3h
— Mika McKinnon (@mikamckinnon) August 16, 2018