I'm not a scientist, so I'll shut up now.
*Incidentally, I just did a combination of a hiccup and a burp, and it's been deigned a hiccurp. But the way it's said reminded me of nasty stuff like herpes, and I said, "That sounds like a cross between a burp and an STD." Hence hiccerpes. All of this leads to the revelation that...sometimes librarians can be more gross than funny.