MMC was discovered and characterized in fasting dogs in 1969 by Dr. Joseph H. Szurszewski at the Mayo Clinic.[1] He also showed that this activity stops upon eating a meal, and suggested that it induces a motor activity that acts as a "interdigestive housekeeper" in the small intestine.[1] These motor complexes trigger peristaltic waves, which facilitate transportation of indigestible substances such as bone, fiber, and foreign bodies from the stomach, through the small intestine, past the ileocecal sphincter, and into the colon. MMC activity varies widely across individuals and within an individual when measured on different days.