human waste

9 Stories

New Everest Rule: You Can't Leave Your Poop Here

Climbers are leaving mountains of excrement behind, causing Everest to 'stink'

(Newser) - Scaling the world's highest summit is an amazing feat that entails plenty of logistics—and now, what climbers do with their poop will be one of them. A new rule requiring people to carry out their waste after ascending Mount Everest was recently enacted by the Pasang Lhamu rural...

Cape Cod Is Being Ruined by Human Waste
Cape Cod Is Being
Ruined by Human Waste
longform
Jan 7, 2023 9:30 AM CST

Cape Cod Is Being Ruined by Human Waste

And by the septic tanks that currently capture it

(Newser) - Cape Cod has been "a cherished destination for generations," writes Christopher Flavelle for the New York Times , and in some ways, that very fact is what's hurting it. Flavelle digs in to the troublesome and odorous situation the Massachusetts locale is experiencing thanks to a ballooning population....

NASA Wants You to Help Astronauts Poop

Space diapers just won't cut it

(Newser) - Pooping in space "isn't glamorous, but it is necessary for survival," an astronaut explains—yet it's presenting quite a challenge for NASA. See, while the International Space Station has a pretty fancy toilet , an astronaut must wear a diaper during launch and landing activities or while...

Think Septic Tanks Keep Poo Out of Our Water? Er, No
Think Septic Tanks Keep Poo Out of Our Water? Er, No
in case you missed it
Aug 8, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Think Septic Tanks Keep Poo Out of Our Water? Er, No

The largest watershed study of its kind to date looks for, and finds, lots of poop

(Newser) - In the largest watershed study of its kind, Michigan State University researchers have sampled 64 river systems in the state for E. coli and the human fecal bacteria B-theta and found that, in a nutshell, septic tanks aren't working. At least not as well as experts thought. The researchers...

We Could Mine Our Waste for Gold
We Could Mine
Our Waste for Gold
study says
Mar 24, 2015 6:42 PM CDT

We Could Mine Our Waste for Gold

Researchers find enough valuable metals in there to make it worthwhile

(Newser) - There's gold in them thar ... wastewater treatment plants? Yes, researchers think that human waste contains enough gold and other valuable metals to make a mining operation pay off, reports LiveScience . Scientists with the USGS spent eight years analyzing treated solid waste to detect minute metal particles, which come from...

Poop Bus Fueled by Human Waste Hits the Road

5 years of your waste produces the gas needed to fill bus's tank once

(Newser) - Move over, poop cruise . There's a new poop-related form of transport on the road, and this one is more neat than nasty. A "Bio-Bus" that runs solely on the biomethane gas generated by treated waste (of the food and human variety) is up and running as of this...

Mars Couple's Radiation Shield: Their Own Feces

It'll line the walls, alongside food, water

(Newser) - When you're on a budget-conscious mission to Mars, you can't waste anything—including your own, well, waste. The lucky couple tapped for Inspiration Mars' private voyage to the red planet will be tasked with lining the walls of their vessel with their own poop to shield themselves from...

SF Escalators Jammed With ... Poop

Homeless people use them as restrooms

(Newser) - San Francisco workers were greeted with an unpleasant sight when they opened a broken subway escalator: a vast quantity of human waste—enough to require a hazardous materials team on the scene. It seems that homeless people frequently use BART stairwells as nighttime toilets; indeed, the poop came as no...

Singapore Scientists Invent Remarkable Toilet

It uses 90% less water and turns your, ahem, No. 2 into electricity

(Newser) - Imagine if every time you went the bathroom you did a little good for the planet. That green dream could soon be entirely possible, thanks to a new invention out of Singapore: a toilet system that transforms human droppings into electricity and fertilizer and uses 90% less water per flush...

9 Stories