“Can maggots devour all our food waste?” and convert the food bits we wasted into something again useful to us humans? Ig Nobel Prize winner David Hu and colleagues—led by master maggot-mystery solver Olga Shishkov— explore that question, in their lab, and in this Science Friday video: Brian Soash writes about the question, for Science […]
Tag: waste
Tamagotchi, time-wasting, Pokémon Go, and the economy
Tamagotchi, whose inventors were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for economics in 1997, is celebrated by Jaime Rubio Hancock, writing in El Pais: Does not anyone remember the Tamagotchi? 6 sets which we found as harmful as Pokémon Go …This Japanese toy Bandai hooked millions of children in 1996. It was not more than a small […]
Experiment: When Annistonians Eat Pringles With—or Without—Olestra
Add this to to list of experiments to see what happens when people eat Pringles with or without Olestra. Rejoice, if you like, in the news that the lead scientist is at the University of Cincinnati, in the same city as the company that invented both Pringles and Olestra: “Reduction of the Body Burden of […]
Atomic Berms *
Devising marking systems (signs & etc.) which can be easily understood by anyone, anywhere, and in any language, is never going to be an easy task. Now imagine that on top of this, the systems have to remain intact and effective for the next 10,000 years. Specifically to discourage inadvertent intruders at a large-scale nuclear […]
Russian Feces-Shooting Tank Inventor interviewed
Russia’s TOPSPV-TV interviewed Alexander Semenov, inventor of the system for collecting tank crewmen’s feces, putting it in shells, and firing those at the enemy. We profiled Mr. Semenov recently, which seems to have led others to seek him out. The technical drawing shown here is from Mr. Semenov’s patent.
Russian tank invention: To lay waste upon the enemy
Aleksandr Georgievich Semenov patented an efficiently disgusting weapon system. Using his method, soldiers inside an armoured tank, under battle conditions, can dispose of their biological waste products in an unwasteful way: encasing those materials, together with explosives, in artillery shells that they then fire at the enemy. Semenov, residing in St Petersburg, can and does […]
Advances in toilet system testing: Wigglers & Pseudo Poop
Whither waste? Toilet testing, not everyone’s cup of tea, makes things flow better, for society’s sake. Metafilter features a little roundup of toilet testing info (thanks to investigator Scott Langill for bringing it to our attention): Pseudo Poop for Testing Toilets Testing toilet flush performance naturally requires the replication of real-world loads. Striving for accuracy, […]