Archive for the ‘Scat-egory’ Category

Finally! An iPhone App That Lets You Track Your Bathroom Habits

submit to reddit

poolog-webThe folks behind the best-selling book, “What’s Your Poo Telling You?” aren’t satisfied with being mere bathroom reading material. So they’ve dropped a new iPhone app, the Poo Log, which allows you to time, log, and graph your BMs—and learn about your gastrointestinal health while doing so.

Via The Presurfer:

The ‘Poo Log’ is a digital timer and journal for recording and studying the wondrous uniqueness of each bowel movement. With a clever mix of bathroom humor and legitimate medical information, the ‘Poo Log’ allows the user to track his/her digestive workings and graph their ‘poo’ – all with one hand.

According to the app’s developers, AvatarLabs Inc, the tracker features medically accurate info that is suitable for all ages, and of course helpful tips such as, “Light a match. Now.”

Related Content:
Discoblog: Want to Cure Your Fear of Flying? There’s an App for That.
Discoblog: “Electric Fart Machine” Could Lead to Greater Fuel Storage Efficiency
Discoblog: Not Subtle, But It Works: Peepoo Bag Converts Human Waste Into Fertilizer

Image: AvatarLabs Inc

November 4th, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Brett Israel in Scat-egory | No Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Weekly News Roundup: Burning Bunnies and Stolen Hands

submit to reddit

roundup-pic_web• Waste not, want not: Stockholm burns culled bunnies for heating fuel.

• Helicopters search for radioactive rabbit poop near the Hanford nuclear reservation. Workers to begin removing the poop soon, which might be the worst job ever.

Mathematician predicts an ESPN fantasy—a Dodgers-Yanks World Series. FOX Sports also has its fingers crossed.

• Doctors enjoy the five-fingered discount by pocking watches, severed hands from hospitals.

• Think technology is invasive now? A new camera is under development that could capture your entire life.

October 16th, 2009 Tags: , , ,
by Brett Israel in Blog Roundup, Crime & Punishment, Scat-egory, Technology Attacks! | 1 Comment » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Brazilians Urged to Pee in the Shower to Conserve Water

submit to reddit

showerSometimes the best way to get people fired up about a cause—be it environmental, political, or anything else—is to get them angry. But instead of trying to piss citizens off, a Brazilian environmental group is trying to get the country’s residents to, well, urinate in the shower.

The group says that if a single household flushed the toilet just one fewer times a day, it would save a whopping 1,157 gallons of water each year. The organization has even come out with a video touting the idea. Urine is sterile, so peeing in the shower is harmless (except if someone has a disease that can be transmitted through their pee, such as hepatitis).

The AP reports:

The spot features cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life – a trapeze artist, a basketball player, even an alien – urinating in the shower.

Narrated by children’s voices, the ad ends with: “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

Watch it here:

Related Content:
Discoblog: Not Subtle, But It Works: Peepoo Bag Converts Human Waste Into Fertilizer
Discoblog: Agriculture of Hard Knocks: Ex-Cons Start Organic Farm in Kenyan Slum
Discoblog: Celebrities Sell Cars, Beer, Clothes…and Toilet Use?

Image: flickr /stevendepolo

August 5th, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Allison Bond in Pollution Solutions (& Disasters), Scat-egory | 35 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Scientists Examine Underwear Astronaut Wore for a Month

submit to reddit

underwearIf you think changing your underwear day after day gets tedious, try doing it while orbiting the Earth. What better opportunity is there, then, to test a new type of undies that are anti-odor, anti-bacterial and water-absorbent—and that allowed an astronaut on the shuttle Endeavour to wear the same pair for a month straight.

Koichi Wakata, who was in orbit for four-and-a-half months, also tested socks, pants, and shirts that use the same technology. The AP reports:

NASA’s space station program manager, Mike Suffredini, stressed the importance of testing new products, especially those aimed at improving astronauts’ quality of life. There’s no way to wash clothes in space. Station residents simply ditch dirty outfits, along with other garbage, in cargo ships no longer needed that are sent plunging in flames through the atmosphere.

Scientists say they are excited to examine Wakata’s high-tech underthings to see how well they worked. For their sake, let’s hope that the undies are, in fact, as odor-resistant as the manufacturers claim.

Related Content
Discoblog: “Handerpants” Claim to Promote Good Hand Health
Discoblog: Cooking in Space: Slow, Mediocre, and Dangerous
Discoblog: What Happens to Your Underwear in Space?

Image: flickr / hans s

July 31st, 2009 Tags: ,
by Allison Bond in Scat-egory, Space & Aliens Therefrom, Technology Attacks! | 7 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

To Track Penguins, Scientists Use High-Tech Satellite Images of…Droppings

submit to reddit

penguinWhen emperor penguins are in your vicinity, their signature tuxedos and waddling gaits make them hard to miss. But when scientists from the British Antarctic Survey tried to track Antarctic emperor penguin populations using satellites, the birds proved too small to be seen. That’s when they got the idea to focus on something much larger and darker than the penguins themselves: the stains left by their feces.

Using the patches of poop as a guide, the scientists examined the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica and spotted 38 penguin colonies, including 10 that had never before been recorded.

Emperor penguins, which starred in the adorable documentary March of the Penguins, are at risk of becoming endangered if climate change threatens their habitat and food supply. In fact, populations in some of the colonies could drop by 95 percent by 2010.

(more…)

June 2nd, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Allison Bond in Scat-egory, The Wide (& Strange) World of Animals | No Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Worried About Swine Flu? Perhaps Your iPhone Will Save You

submit to reddit

iphoneapp.jpgAs if bad government responses to swine flu aren’t enough, now there are bad technical ones too: a swine flu iPhone app that keeps tabs on the status of the pandemic (is it one yet?) and maps the latest cases.

So, um, if you’re planning a trip to Mexico City on the go, your phone can now warn you not to.

Image: IntuApps

Related Content:
80beats: World Health Organization Ups Pandemic Alert Level for Swine Flu
80beats: First U.S. Death From Swine Flu Is Reported as Outbreak Spreads
DISCOVER: The Five Worst Government Responses to Swine Flu

April 30th, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Rachel Cernansky in Diseases, Injuries, & Other Ailments, Scat-egory | 2 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

“Electric Fart Machine” Could Lead to Greater Fuel Storage Efficiency

submit to reddit

fartmachine4.jpgWhile it may sound like every six-year-old boy’s dream, a new electric fart machine could actually improve fuel cell technology.

The machine takes single-celled microoranisms called archea and gives them little electric jolts, which trigger the organisms to turn carbon dioxide from the air into methane and release it as, um, micro-farts.  The methane can then be used to power fuel cells or store the electrical energy chemically until it’s needed.

(more…)

April 24th, 2009 Tags: ,
by Rachel Cernansky in Pollution Solutions (& Disasters), Scat-egory | 2 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Not Subtle, But It Works: Peepoo Bag Converts Human Waste Into Fertilizer

submit to reddit

peepoo1.jpgTaking recycling to a whole new level, the Peepoo bag allows you to, well, pee and poo in a bag, which can then be planted to help your garden grow. For slums in the developing world where human waste is an unregulated nightmare and flying toilets are common practice, the bag provides a means of waterless sewage disposal and organic fertilizer all in one easy, biodegradable step.

The bag is lined with Urea, a common fertilizer that breaks down urine and feces into ammonia and carbonate. Pathogens in the waste, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, are killed within anywhere from a matter of hours to several weeks.

(more…)

April 15th, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Rachel Cernansky in Pollution Solutions (& Disasters), Scat-egory | 3 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Could Poop Fuel Our Future? New Sewage-Powered Buses Hint at Yes

submit to reddit

poofinal.jpgBathroom time may not be wasted time after all: A year’s worth of your poop can be turned into 2.1 gallons of useable diesel. And the Norwegian capital of Oslo plans to put all that waste to work powering 80 of its buses with fuel made from the Bekkelaget sewage treatment plant, which houses the waste of 250,000 people.

If all goes as planned, the city’s other waste treatment plant, as well as biofuels made from food waste, will eventually contribute to the total supply—and with serious results: Fueling 400 or so buses this way would reduce 30,000 tons of carbon emissions a year.

While the idea certainly has an “ick factor,” it’s not like gas-station attendants will have to start shoveling sewage directly into a bus’ fuel tank.

(more…)

March 25th, 2009 Tags: , , ,
by Boonsri Dickinson in Scat-egory, Technology Attacks! | 9 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Celebrities Sell Cars, Beer, Clothes…and Toilet Use?

submit to reddit

toilet.jpgAnyone who’s seen Slumdog Millionaire knows the sorry state of sanitation in many of the world’s biggest slums. And with sewage contaminating more waterways and public spaces every day, the need for effective sanitation measures is dire. To bring the point home, here’s a stat for you: Only 16 percent of people in Cambodia have access to some sort of latrine or toilet, and five million people around the world die from waterborne illnesses every year.

(more…)

March 20th, 2009 Tags: , , ,
by Melissa Lafsky in Scat-egory | 2 Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >