A new, distinct form of backend processing— a very distant relative of potty training, for computers—is presented in this new study: “A mountable toilet system for personalized health monitoring via the analysis of excreta,” Seung-min Park, Daeyoun D. Won, Brian J. Lee, Diego Escobedo, Andre Esteva, Amin Aalipour, T. Jessie Ge, Jung Ha Kim, Susie […]
Tag: Urine
Lipstick obsession and red urine [case study]
“A 28-year-old woman presented to the nephrology clinic with a 5-day history of passage of red-colored urine (Figure 1a) without dysuria flank pain, rigors, or chills. She denied any history of recent exposure to medications, beet intake, or coloring agents in food. On examination, the only noticeable feature was her bright-red lipstick (Figure 1b). Her […]
A better-rounded understanding of why wombat poo is cubic
Ian Sample reports, in The Guardian, a new discovery by Ig Nobel Prize winners, about wombat poo shape: Scientists unravel secret of cube-shaped wombat faeces Researchers investigate why excrement emerges in awkward-shaped blocks … “My curiosity got triggered when I realised that cubical feces exist,” said Patricia Yang pictured below], a postdoctoral fellow in mechanical engineering […]
Thesis: “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” in Stockholm
A tidy stream of scholarship emerges from this 2017 thesis: “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow: Urin i konsten: om tolkning som händelse,” Jens Martin Svendsen, thesis, Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm Business School, Marketing, Stockholm University, 2017. The author writes: “Don’t eat the yellow snow—Urine in art: events of interpretationUrine seams to evoke feelings. Through […]
Urinary relief hatch for waders (new patent)
One of the problems with waterproof waders and foul weather gear is that they tend to be waterproof in both directions. A newly patented invention from Robert A. Stevenson and Wendy L. Stevenson of Canyon Country, California finds a way through this logical quandary with a specially developed hatch. The invention can be described (in […]
“Learning to love the secret language of urine”
Dr. Jonathan Reisman writes, in the Washington Post, about his professional love affair with a body fluid: Many physicians are actively drawn to a particular bodily fluid, intrigued by its unique diagnostic mysteries. Each fluid that runs through the body is a language in which diseases speak to physicians, telling them what is wrong with […]
Wee mathematics in Portland, Oregon
Today’s mathematics exercise: What, approximately, is the percentage of human wee in the water supply, both before and after the wee was added to the reservoir? PORTLAND PLANS RESERVOIR FLUSH AFTER TEEN CITED PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — …. Portland officials said Wednesday they are flushing away millions of gallons of treated water for the second time in […]
Spanish Medical Folklore: Inducing Milk
A 1910 British medical article about Spanish medical folklore includes some stories about how to induce milk: “Spanish Medical Folklore,” British Medical Journal, October 15, 1910, p. 1168. The unsigned article explains that its information comes from “two articles on Spanish superstitions, by Dr. Martin arrera y Dellunder, which appeared in the Gaceta Medica Catalana of […]
Effect of Dogs’ Seeing on Owners’ Peeing
Does looking at the amount of oxytocin in dog owners’ pee as those owners respond to their dogs’ gaze affect the amount of oxytocin in the pee of the researchers looking at the owners responding to the dogs’ looking at them? That lengthy question is not addressed in this study: “Dog’s gaze at its owner […]
The universality of “Boys Will Be Boys”
We have a column called “Boys Will Be Boys — Research by and for adolescent males of all ages and sexes“, that runs in every issue of our magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research. Occasionally, someone complains that the column appeals only to males, males who are especially juvenile. But our experience with readers says […]