#poop

Medieval Barrels Filled With Poop Still Stink After 700 YearsArchaeologists digging in Odense, Denmark discovered barrels dating back to the 14th century. The contents of the barrels, however, were not for the faint of heart. What was inside the barrels, you ask? Poop!Even after hundreds of years, that poop still stunk. Perhaps it stunk even more. Despite the terrible stench, however, archaeologists went on to examine the fecal-filled barrels. Oh, the things we do for science.Their efforts, however, were not in vain. Thanks to the well-preserved poop barrels, we now have an idea of what food was popular in 14th century Odense. What was popular you ask? Raspberries!(Image Credit: Odense City Museums)#Archaeology #Poop #Barrels #Odense #Denmark #Raspberries #Latrine

Plateau Pikas Survive the Harsh Tibetan Winter by Eating Yak PoopSome animals deal with cold winters by going into hibernation, some burrow underground to stay warm and subsist on stockpiled food, while others migrate away to warmer climes but the cute fluffball-like animal called the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau did none of these. Instead, they continue to forage in the cold.As the temperatures in their high-altitude home routinely dip to -30° C (-22° F), the grass that they typically eat becomes dry and brittle so the plateau pikas have to resort to a different and very unusual type of food. They eat yak poop.Ecophysiologist John Speakman at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and colleagues measured the temperature and daily energy expenditure of 156 plateau pikas and found that they reduce their metabolism by almost 30 percent, partly by cooling their bodies a couple of degrees at night and becoming less active during the day.At sites where there are yaks, there were more pikas but they were even less active. But why would the presence of yaks change the plateau pikas, wondered the researchers. They stumbled on the answer when they “found a sort of half-eaten yak turd in one of the burrows,” explained Speakman. The abundant yak poop could serve as an easily digestible meal that “massively reduces the amount of time [pikas] need to spend on the surface,” he added.Image: Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in eastern Tibet by Kunsang/Wikimedia Commons#pika #plateaupika #winter #yak #poop #winter #zoology #yakpoop #hibernation

South Korean Toilet Let Students Pay with Poop by Turning Excrement Into Digital CurrencyUrban and environmental engineering professor Cho Jae-weon of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea has created an eco-friendly toilet that converts human excrement into energy.The toilet, named BeeVi (for "bee" and "vision") used a vacuum pump to send excrement into an underground tank where microorganisms break down the waste and produce methane, a biogas that is used by the school to create energy.An average person produces enough excrement daily to create 50 liters of methane gas, which in turn can produce 0.5 kilowatt-hour of electricity.To "reward" students for their, ahem, deposits, Cho created a virtual currency called Ggool (or 'honey' in Korean). Each person that use the toilet earns virtual currency that can be used to buy goods on campus - from coffee to instant cup noodles, snacks, and even books.Via Interesting EngineeringImage: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology#methane #biogas #toilet #energy #virtualcurrency #poop

This Antarctic Moss Depends on Penguin Poop to SurviveIndian biologist Felix Bast of the Central University of Punjab was on a mission to Antarctica where he stumbled upon a new species of moss.When he analyzed the moss sample back at his lab, Bast discovered that the moss only grew where it could find a source of nitrogen ... and in Antarctica, there was only one source: penguin poop!The new moss species was named Bryum Bharatiensis. Bharati is the Hindu goddess of learning and the name of one of India's Antarctic research stations.#moss #penguin #nitrogen #Antarctica #newspecies #poop #Bharati #HinduGod #goddess