Though the experiments were conducted with toilets empty of all but clean water, Crimaldi strongly suspects that adding toilet paper and human waste only injects more chaos and energy into a flush.
Engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have confirmed what the germ-phobic among us have long suspected: The flush of a commercial toilet releases a Vesuvius-like cloud of tiny droplets and aerosol particles that reaches more than 5 feet above the seat.
Though invisible to the naked eye, when illuminated by green lasers, the plume appears like a burst of microscopic confetti thrown at the world’s grossest party, one composed of tiny drops of water and whatever else might be in the bowl.
Monday, December 26, 2022 - After a weekend of eating too much, it’s time to take better care of our digestive systems. We reair a conversation from October on the power of poop. From fecal transplants to renewable energy, the new book Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure explores why we might want to make our number two, a number one priority. We visit with science writer Dr. Bryn Nelson.