You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

Hello and happy world toilet day.

Yes, that's a thing.

And here on shortwave, we are taking it very literally

and bringing you some toilet-based science.

Imagine a toilet that can always keep itself clean

without living streak of human waste

that just makes it more appealing for people to use it.

For example, in the case of public bathroom.

I mean, I've definitely gone into a public bathroom

and been like, I'm going no further.

Yes, yeah.

That's taxing Wong.

He's a biomedical engineer at Penn State University.

And he's trying to solve what he has called a universal problem,

a problem as old as time.

Poop and sticky to the surfaces.

So basically you're saying like that poop sticks

to a toilet bowl, is what you're saying?

Yeah, when the poop sees this surface, it just stick on it.

Here's the thing.

Taxing isn't focused on this because he's

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