Pee

Why Cicadas Power Spray Their PeeThirsty cicadas produce more powerful jets of urine than some mammalsBy Jack Tamisiea Credit: Cyril Ruoso/Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock PhotoAs trillions of periodical cicadas emerge across the Midwestern and southern U. S. later this spring, they will generate plenty of buzz—each cicada can generate a sound as loud as a chainsaw. These red-eyed insects will also produce a prodigious amount of pee.Cicadas consume copious amounts of watery plant fluid, which means that nature is…

MIT scientists have developed an easier method for diagnosing lung cancer – breathe in some inhalable nanoparticle sensors, then pee on a stick.Lung cancer is usually diagnosed through a CT scan, but it’s uncomfortable and has a high false-positive rate. Plus, the machines are big and expensive, so they aren’t available in all hospitals or healthcare facilities, especially in low income regions. But a new diagnostic tool from a team at MIT may make things simpler. Patients would just need to inhale some nanoparticles from…

Scientists say they’ve finally answered an age-old question: Just why is our pee yellow? In new research, a team found the enzyme produced by gut bacteria that plays a major role in turning our urine mellow. Curiosity aside, the discovery may actually help scientists better understand the gut microbiome and how it can contribute to certain health conditions, like jaundice in newborns.Let’s Eat a Chocolate Xbox ControllerUrine is the finale of our body’s natural drainage system. It’s made out of excess water and waste…

Astronauts on interplanetary missions will be a bit less thirsty after a new NASA system succeeded at reclaiming 98% of waste water aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by converting things like urine into a drinkable state.Future crewed deep space missions that will last months or even years will be very different from any that have come before. Until now, astronauts have either carried their own supplies along or relied on regular visits from cargo ships. As to waste products, these were simply disposed of in a…

NASA has achieved a technological milestone, announcing the International Space Station’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) is now recycling 98 percent of all water astronauts bring onboard. Advanced dehumidifiers capture moisture from the station’s crew breaths and sweats, while urine processor assembly recovers water from astronauts’ urine through vacuum distillation. According to NASA, the distillation process produces water and a urine brine that still contains reclaimable H20. Now, a new device…

NASA has achieved a technological milestone that could one day play an important role in missions to the Moon and beyond. This week, the space agency (via ) that the International Space Station’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) is recycling 98 percent of all water astronauts bring onboard the station. Functionally, you can imagine the system operating in a way similar to the Stillsuits described in Frank Herbert’s . One part of the ECLSS uses “advanced dehumidifiers” to capture moisture the…

Kesha Once Made Headlines For Drinking Her Own Pee Thinking It Will Be Healthy (Picture Credit: Wikimedia) Singer-songwriter Kesha seems to be a wild child and her stunt of drinking her own urine in the MTV documentary series Kesha: My Crazy Beautiful Life proves the same. The two-part documentary released in 2013 left many stunned as it showed the singer consuming her own pee with an intention to look good and be healthy. Read on to know more. Kesha is best known for her songs like Tik Tok, Take It Off, Your Love Is…

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The glassy-winged sharpshooter is an insect so impressive when it pees it could inspire more efficient designs for water-resistant devices.Saad Bhamla was in his vegetable garden in Atlanta, Georgia, when he first noticed the feat. The sharpshooter forms neat, round pee droplets that it flicks away with lightning speed. Bhamla, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of biomolecular engineering, whipped out his iPhone to take some slow-motion videos.“The more I zoomed in, the more I realized that it was doing something…

A new study outlines an incredible feat of projectile peeing discovered in an insect named for its quick-draw delivery of waste.The tiny glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis) is able to urinate at a velocity that's staggering for its 12 millimeter (half inch) body, flinging a bead of liquid at speeds of around 30 centimeters per second.Based on a detailed analysis involving computer modeling and physical experiments, scientists think that the unusual way that these insects pee helps them conserve the…