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[The Future of Bathroom Tech: Smart Toilets and Time-Traveling Potties]-[Are You Smarter Than A Toilet? (encore)]

Wow in the World · B1 · 2021-03-01

Preschool Enlightenment
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📋 Summary

Innovations in Bathroom Technology: From Time Travel to Health Monitoring

In this episode of Wow in the World, hosts Mindy and Guy Raz embark on a humorous adventure to the "Bathroom Showcase," an event dedicated to the latest advancements in lavatory technology. While the narrative is filled with eccentric hijinks involving a "portal potty" that transports users through time, the core of the episode focuses on a genuine, groundbreaking medical innovation: the smart toilet.

The Smart Toilet: A New Frontier in Healthcare

Guy Raz introduces the concept of a "revolutionary new piece of bathroom technology" that can detect diseases. Unlike the humorous "portal potty" that Dennis uses to travel through history, the smart toilet featured in the episode is based on real research from Stanford University, as highlighted in the Nature Biomedical Engineering journal.

Rather than being "smart" in a traditional sense—like solving math problems—this toilet is designed with "precision health-focused technology." It serves as a passive diagnostic tool by monitoring a user's health through their bodily waste. As the episode explains, the toilet analyzes "stool and urine" to provide insights into a person's overall wellness. The hosts note that the "smell, size, color, and shape of your stool all contain clues to the state of your health."

How the Technology Works

To perform these health checks, the smart toilet utilizes a suite of sophisticated sensors:

  • Fecal Recognition: Much like facial recognition technology, the toilet uses a scanner to identify the user via their anatomy.
  • Pressure and Flow Sensors: These monitor how long it takes for a user to "do their business" and track the force of the flow (described playfully as the difference between a "little tinkle" or "Niagara Falls").
  • Color Detection: The system monitors urine color, which can be an indicator of hydration levels.

Once the data is collected, it is sent to a "cloud-based portal." In the near future, this information could be accessed by medical professionals to help diagnose and treat illnesses before they become severe.

The Evolution of the Toilet

Through the character of Dennis, who accidentally travels through time, the episode offers a lighthearted look at the history of the toilet. From "holes in the ground" to 17th-century "chamber pots" (the original "portable potty"), the show highlights how human bathroom habits have evolved. Looking ahead, the episode suggests that the future of bathroom technology will prioritize health monitoring and efficiency, moving away from rudimentary methods toward high-tech, data-driven solutions.

Ultimately, while Mindy and Guy Raz keep the tone light and full of "wows," the episode serves as a fascinating introduction to how everyday household objects are being transformed by science to play a critical role in preventative medicine.

🎯Key Sentences

1
It's going to be a November to remember.
2
I hope they're not stool samples.
3
We're getting the gang back together.
4
I think we have a little problem.
5
I think I see where you're going with this.
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📝Key Phrases

1
music to your ears
2
take the plunge
3
doubles as
4
cooped up
5
getting the gang back together
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📖 Transcript

Grownups, Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Wow in the World early and ad-free right now.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Wondery Kids Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, I gotta let you know that this November, with a special new episode featuring our friends at Circle Round and Terrestrials on Radiolab for Kids,
And don't miss when Elmo from Sesame Street stops by Wow in the World to make us all belly laugh on November 24th.
Oh, but that's not all, Reg.

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