Flush With Excitement

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infrastructure. And the incentive to modernize includes the possibility that recycling human waste could help with conservation efforts, energy generation, and even medicine. Also, a sixth-grader puts lipstick on cats’ bottoms to map places their tush has touched, and in Michigan, why peeing on the peonies can be a good thing. Guests: Kaeden Henry – Sixth grade student in Tennessee. Kerry Griffin – Mother of Kaeden Henry; holds a doctorate in animal behavior. Yvette Johnson-Walker – Clinical Instructor in Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chelsea Wald – Science and environmental journalist, and author of Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet. Nancy Love – Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:11.0	It's fair to say that out of sight, out of mind, is our mindset when we do this.
1:17.0	To my mind it's like the whoosh of the toilet as you flush is it almost serves as a mind eraser and then the invisibility of the whole infrastructure enables that flush and forget environment.
1:32.0	I mean who wants to think twice about what goes into toilets and sewers?
1:36.0	I mean, I'm with you, but some scientists and engineers have given this real thought.
1:40.0	They see opportunities for improving the whole experience.
1:43.2	For one, they want to dethron the throne and replace it with a more efficient toilet.
1:48.2	And they ask, what if we didn't waste our human waste,
	...

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