Posts Tagged ‘excrement’
United Nations’ First Satellite Will Study Use of Astronaut Excrement As a Fuel Source
UNESCOSat is intended to promote science education and cooperation, and it will carry several payloads, reports Fast Company. One of them will study Shewanella MR-1 bacteria to see if it can convert astronaut feces into hydrogen for use in fuel cells.
NASA has been using hydrogen fuel cells since the Apollo program — astronauts actually drink the water produced by the space shuttles’ fuel cells. But sources of hydrogen could be an issue on long-term space missions, so it would be handy to have a renewable supply. That’s where bacteria come in.
Donald Platt, program director for the Space Sciences and Space Systems program at the Florida Institute of Technology, explains that bacteria convert waste into hydrogen, but scientists need to know how the bacteria will behave in microgravity. The experiment will measure how well Shewanella grows in space to determine how its life cycle changes, Fast Company reports.
The research builds on work Florida Institute of Technology students have already done on .
Another bacteria payload will study the viability of bacteria that could survive on the Martian ice caps, partly to help scientists pinpoint evidence of extinct life forms.
UNESCOSat is set to launch in the first half of 2011 and stay aloft for five years.
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Dogs and Mice Could Be Trained as Roving Biosensors to Sniff Out Disease Before It Spreads, Study Says
"Biosensor" dogs and mice could be dispatched to airports and other public spaces to sniff out avian influenza and other pathogens, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study. The key is the animals' keen ability to smell poo. Apparently, excrement from an infected animal smells different from that of a healthy animal. This is the first study to show excrement can be used as a marker for specific illnesses.
In the study, announced Tuesday, scientists trained mice to identify the feces of ducks that had been infected with bird flu. Researchers led by Bruce A. Kimball of the USDA placed mice in a maze and gave them a drink of water every time they sniffed a feces sample from a sick duck. Eventually, the mice became experts at identifying infected excrement.
The study was announced at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Kimball says the study proves the concept of using feces as a front-line defense against disease. Trained dogs, and possibly legions of mice, could screen feces, soil or other environmental samples to provide early warning, he says. He also expects to identify what the mice picked up in the smelly samples, and develop lab instruments and even field detectors based on those specific odor molecules.
The infected excrement was irradiated to protect the mice and the scientists from getting sick, and Kimball tells that scientists need to make sure that process didn't affect the smell.
The study involved the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services and the National Wildlife Research Center, along with Monell Chemical Senses Center.
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Condo Board May Screen Resident Dogs’ DNA to ID Wayward Poo
Someone has not been doing his or her civic, um, duty and picking up Fido's waste, leaving messes all over the ritzy condo grounds, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Members of the condo board want to find out who's responsible, so they're turning to the same technology used to connect suspects to crime scenes and to prove paternity.
Under the proposal, every dog who lives at the condo and all visiting dogs would get a cheek swab so their DNA could be tested. Condo residents who own dogs would have to fork over $50 to cover the costs of sending poo samples to a lab. If wayward doggie doo matches a specific dog, the culprit's owner would face a $500 fine.
The point is to encourage residents to pick up after their pets, says Steve Frans, the board member who came up with the idea, according to the Sun.
"Some people think it's funny. But you know, this seems to be a reasonable, objective way to say, 'This is your poop, you're responsible,'" he said.
The Sun notes that some condo residents have been "muttering a lot about Big Brother and draconian measures."