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UMD Scientists Create 'Smart Underwear' to Measure Human Flatulence
- toenail 7mo agoI wonder what comes after that, a tax for methane emissions?
- zoklet-enjoyer 7mo agoFuture Ig Nobel candidate? I signed up for the study. I like to participate in studies at the local college and I track my sleep and stuff daily on my watch. Kind of excited about this. I'll report back with my data if I get picked Update: dang Thank you for your interest in the Human Flatus Atlas and for your willingness to participate in our study. Due to overwhelming demand, we are currently experiencing a temporary pause in onboarding new participants. At this time, we kindly ask that you save the personalized consent form link you received, as it will be required to continue your participation once we are ready to bring you on board. We will send a notification once we have expanded capacity to accommodate all participants. We are thrilled by the incredible response to this study and truly appreciate your patience and enthusiasm. We look forward to your participation. Sincerely, The Human Flatus Atlas Research Team
- salad-tycoon 7mo agoSmall annoyance, the team name is missing an E. Wish they had gone with The Human Enterologic Flatulence Atlas Research Team.
- batch12 7mo agoSincerely, TH FART
- dguest 7mo agoIg Nobel is doing more for science than Nobel: - It's fun. - The prizes are accessible to young scientists who actually need the career boost from the publicity (as opposed to established scientists who are mostly boosting the prestige of the prize) - They promote awareness of how diverse and awesome science is.
- kotaKat 7mo agoTired: Kohler's poop camera. Sleepy: Withings' piss sensor. Wired: Smart fart panties.
- shermantanktop 7mo agoWhen gas hits $5 a gallon at the pump, scientists get creative.
- whynotmaybe 7mo agoTime to rewatch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderpants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderpants
- mikestew 7mo agoI read the plot and noped out on that one, until I read the cast list. Paul Giamatti? Fine, it goes on the list for tonight. If for no other reason than to find out what the hell he’s doing in something like that.
- MrWiffles 7mo agoPlease, for the good of humanity, and of HN, report back.
- mikestew 7mo agoI wish I could report success, but I can’t find it streaming. Amazon will sell me the DVD for $6, but I don’t know if I wanted to get that invested. I may have to hoist the sails…
- whynotmaybe 7mo agoIt's a kids movie but I put it in the "very strange" kid movie. Get ready, spoilers ahead, based on the plot explained on wikipedia. >Patrick gets recruited by an opera singer Why does he gets recruited ? Because with his farts he can reach a note that no opera singer can reach. The opera singer "Sir John Osgood" (played by Simon Callow) lip syncs the note and then becomes the Number 1 opera singer in the world. But, another opera singer "Placido P. Placeedo" (Adam Godley), who was number 1 before, gets jealous and discovers Patrick Smash. So Placido does what every normal person would do, he gives laxatives to Patrick so that the next time he should play the note it fails because it's another set of note played. >ultimately gaining revenge on the school bully Damon Thunderpants, invented by Alan (Rupert Grint), is a pant connected to a filter inside a lunchbox. With this Patrick hasn't anymore problem at school. https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Patrick_Smash https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Patrick_Smash If my memory's right, Patrick gains revenge whenever the bully opens the lunch box to steal Patrick's lunch. >Patrick finds that his condition may be of use to the spacemen in peril Alan has been hired by a "NASA" to build a new rocket and he included a special thruster that uses Patrick's fart as fuel.
- paulbjensen 7mo ago…and the Danes will tax it, just like they tax cow farts.
- CalRobert 7mo agoWell, given that both are destructive to the planet, that makes some sense. (Also, cow burps are the bigger issue)
- nullorempty 7mo agoClearly. Seems like the top concern for today's the powers that be.
- ramon156 7mo agoMethane is the most harmful gas right now, but the solution for some reason is more money to the gov. Maybe we should do something about that meat industry
- nullorempty 7mo agoMethane you say. May be they should just stop the wars for now. Stop spilling oil into the seas. Stop dropping bombs. Stop all the crazy shit they are doing. As far as meat is concerned - our bodies need meat and fat to stay healthy.
- 6510 7mo ago> Stop all the crazy shit they are doing. But then we would have to accept methane is an excellent fuel and that we have an abundance of it. No one on the fortune 500 likes that idea.
- nullorempty 7mo agoLife is stranger than fiction.
- nullorempty 7mo agoAnd I just invented a fart-tube to route gasses away from sensors - already assuming farts will be taxed.
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- portly 7mo agoI need a smell amplifier
- SoftTalker 7mo agoMy first question was: who funded this? Seems like a candidate for a Proxmire Golden Fleece Award. This research was supported by the University of Maryland, the Maryland Innovation Initiative Phase I and the UM Ventures Medical Device Development Fund.
- toraway 7mo agoOr just maybe, it was developed to further a legitimately needed area of medical research with direct human clinical relevance like quantifying differences in the microbiome for colorectal cancer, etc. The concept of the Golden Fleece awards (and whatever Rand Paul’s version is called) linking a reaction of “sounds stupid to me” by a random layperson with “taxpayers are getting ripped off” is inherently faulty and weaponizing populism to sabotage publicly funded scientific research.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- k4rnaj1k 7mo agoThis can potenitally help people actually tell if their microbiome is okay. Seems like an actually useful study and will be very helpful for doctors.
- salad-tycoon 7mo agoFinally, we might have proof that family member(X) truly is releasing biological weapons grade flatulence at the next holiday get together.
- xrd 7mo agoI do think this has a chance of breaking records for clinical trial participation rates.
- nytesky 7mo agoI know this is worthwhile, especially with the rise in colorectal cancer in younger adults, perhaps this will help in early detection. But I did take a double take and go “Is it April already?”
- vivzkestrel 7mo ago- imagine if you had superpowers to do anything - i would replace everyone s underwear secretly with a bass base to emit a loud noise everytime someone farted - imagine how many loud bops you would hear at the airport every second
- MarkusWandel 7mo agoThat sounds like a classig igNobel Prize candidate!
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- throwup238 7mo agoThis reminds me of one of the pinnacles of Canadian culture, Kenny vs Spenny. In one episode titled “Who Can Blow the Biggest Farts?” they used a device that measures flatulence to judge who blew the biggest fart. I assume with this underwear we all can participate in gamified flatulence with a global leader board.
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- bdangubic 7mo agoMeta should buy this and make people in 3rd world countries watch this in real time
- tootie 7mo agoWas just thinking about the surveillance aspect of this. Nobody would be able to pretend it was someone else who farted.
- impish9208 7mo agoSome PM somewhere is asking when this API will be available in the browser so that their site and its 413 trusted partners can delight their visitors with more relevant ads.
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- fortranfiend 7mo agoSome things should be left unknown.
- gundmc 7mo agoMythbusters made a version of this in an unaired segment of their 2006 episode about passing gas https://youtu.be/RHcDP_Yew-g?si=T7AONGdXPd4d_gM3 https://youtu.be/RHcDP_Yew-g?si=T7AONGdXPd4d_gM3
- elcapitan 7mo ago> in an unaired segment checks out
- euroderf 7mo agoThese measurements will not be complete if they do not measure the other two states of matter, liquid and solid. I don't know about you, but they've been known to appear.
- WaxProlix 7mo agoAs long as you're not achieving Plasma you're probably fine.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- oulipo2 7mo agoCan we bind it so when I fart it closes the tab?
- MrWiffles 7mo agoI’ll remind us all that the subject of human flatulence has been one of interest for some of history’s greatest minds - and humorists - for several centuries at the very least: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-0281 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-02...
- financetechbro 7mo agoCalling farts “Quantity of Wind” is peak class. I will adopt this nomenclature
- nacozarina 7mo agoif they are electrified, they can be hacked to be an ignition source
- aanet 7mo agoHand ‘em the IgNoble prize already
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- shwaj 7mo agoI need a pair that can measure pitch and timbre.
- jnaina 7mo agoSame, but also measure blast radius
- tomkarho 7mo agoWaiting on the legislation demanding that every underwear must have these "safety" features and then someone will insert a meter to those and start taxing us for every single puff.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- dzhiurgis 7mo agoCountries struggle to keep drugs, immigrants or straight up vape shops away. If we fail to keep our most basic laws enforced, how do you imagine stuff like this working. Cheap sarcasm like this has no place on HN.
- svilen_dobrev 7mo agodigital Farthings, here they come
- evanjrowley 7mo agoI considered becoming and early adopter but decided my needs would be better served after someone develops an industrial/Mil-Spec variant with wider range of operating temperatures, environmental resistance, and impact rating.
- impure 7mo ago32 a day!?! I guess I’m not that abnormal after all then.
- ayashko 7mo agoHistorically (hysterically?); Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945), better known by his stage name Le Pétomane, was a French flatulist (professional fartist), comedian and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seemingly fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac" suffix, which translates to "fartomaniac". The profession is referred to as "flatulist", "farteur", or "fartiste". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pétomane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pétomane
- snthpy 7mo agoOfc Freud came to watch lol