Gas Science!

by Paul VanDerWerf

I just read a study titled "Influence of body posture on intestinal transit of gas." It's conclusion?

Body posture has a significant influence on intestinal gas propulsion: transit is faster in the upright position than when supine.

In other words, stand up if you need to, er, pass gas!

Did you know "Why is my poop green?" is one of the most commonly Googled questions?

Huh. And now, Hank Green at the SciShow has the answer!

"She was pretty sure she’d identified the first fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex turd."

Karen Chin is a paleoscatologist. That means she studies dinosaur poop! Read her amazing story here.

You might also want to read this: "Why do humans hate poo so much?"

Ever hear of a blood bank? In Canada, they now have a "poop bank"!

This cool article lays it out, but simply put—some people need to get healthy poop transplanted into their bodies. Why? It has to do with a deadly bacteria known as C. difficile and… oh, read the article!

...and by 'Rock' we mean 'Poop'!

Via.

Space Barf and the Garn Scale

Jake Garn-top right.

Did you know that astronauts can suffer from “spaceadaptation sickness”? It affects 50% of astronauts to varying degrees. 

The nauseous and barfy signs of space sickness are ranked on the “Garn scale.” It’s named after Jake Garn, who flew aboard the Space Shuttle in 1985 and apparently experienced the maximum level of space barfing ever known to humankind.

And FYI, one "Garn" is the highest level of space barf-ery!

In outer space, your feet will make you scream!

Right now, your skin cells are dying and falling off of you. But because of gravity, you don’t even notice (most of the time!). But astronauts living in zero gravity don’t get this luxury!

As Megan Garber writes:

In space, however, there is no gravity to pull the dead cells (technically: the detritus) away. Which means that the detritus, left to its own devices, simply floats. Which, given the fact that multiple astronauts live on the Space Station at the same time, and the fact that even highly trained space travelers might get skeeved out by floating clouds of dead skin, is less than ideal.

So as the astronaut says: "This cloud, this explosion of skin particles -- detritus -- floats out. And you're in this weightless environment, and the particles have nowhere to go but out."

The world's first pee-powered phone!

This article is so awesome, I'll just give you some quotes:

Mobile phone owners could soon be able to give their batteries a boost with their own urine. 

British scientists at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed a way of using urine as a power source to generate electricity and claim to have created the world's first microbial fuel cells (MFC) powered mobile phone. 

While many people might turn their noses up at the energy source, the researchers said that it is the 'ultimate waste product' and does not rely on the erratic nature of the wind or the sun... 

Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos, an expert at harnessing power from unusual sources using microbial fuel cells at the University of West England, Bristol, which was also involved in the research, said the urine-powered phone is a 'world first'. 

"No-one has harnessed power from urine so it’s an exciting discovery."

YES! IT IS VERY EXCITING!

Dude, you stink! Go lie down.

Some people have problems with gas. And you are probably one of them. But when you need to let out a stinker, does your body position matter? If you’ve ever been sitting in class trying to do a “right-cheek sneak,” you know the answer to that: Yes!

Anyway, some scientists studied whether it’s easier to fart standing or lying down. So they got volunteers and blew gas into their intestines (don’t ask). Then they had them stand or lie on their backs (supine). And they measured how much they farted!

BACKGROUND: Patients describe that body posture may affect their abdominal bloating, distension, and flatulence, but whether changes in position have objectively demonstrable effects, either beneficial or deleterious, has not been investigated. Aim: To determine the effect of body posture, upright versus supine, on intestinal transit of gas loads.
 SUBJECTS: Eight healthy subjects.
 METHODS: In each subject a gas mixture was continuously infused..for three hours... Paired studies were randomly performed in each subject on separate days in the upright and supine positions.
 CONCLUSION: You fart more when you’re standing up.

 Via by way of Seriously Science.