Farts To The Rescue
Short Wave
NPR
4.7 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than 40% of people worldwide are estimated to suffer from some kind of functional gut disorder — from acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome to inflammatory bowel disease. So, yes, freelance science writer Claire Ainsworth thinks so. Claire speaks with Emily about two teams of scientists studying intestinal gases, who she profiled in a recent New Scientist article — and why understanding people's gut microbiome through a fart-shaped window may help treat these conditions at the source.
Read more of Claire's reporting for New Scientist.
Have another bodily function you want us to explore or just want to report to us about a funny time you passed gas? Email us at [email protected].
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Transcript
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| 1:01.5 | Shortwave from NPR. Farts are funny. Depending on where you are and who you are, they might also be |
| 1:10.7 | smelly or silly or |
| 1:12.1 | just rude. But could they be a topic of scientific research? There are some scientists who are |
| 1:18.3 | trying to collect them, physically collect farts. Claire Ainsworth got her PhD in developmental |
| 1:24.2 | biology and she's now a freelance science journalist based in the UK who covers |
| 1:28.3 | things like farts. I thought, what on earth is motivating these people to go to such lengths |
| 1:35.4 | and such, you know, such care to collect farts? You know, how do they have funding for that? Why would |
| 1:40.5 | you do that? And it took me on this, this is a really fascinating journey into |
| 1:44.6 | just how important and fascinating farts really are. Claire published a piece about all she'd |
| 1:50.3 | learned in New Scientist, which is a science magazine, in December. She says, think of farts like |
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