Scientists have created a wearable sensor that attaches to your underwear and tracks your gut bacteria in real time by measuring the hydrogen gas in your flatulence. And no, that’s not a setup for a joke.
Researchers at the University of Maryland developed the device to solve a problem that has plagued microbiome research for years: how to actually monitor what gut bacteria are doing hour by hour, not just which species are living in there. The answer, it turns out, involves a tiny sensor clipped near your bottom that passively records data while you go about your day.
I’m not sure what surprises me more, the fact that there’s a sensor for counting farts, or that there is a stock image like this:
Thank you for noticing that, it’s one of the reasons I posted this, lol.
I’m dreading buying new appliances due to internet connectivity. My clothes don’t need microchips.
Fine, we’ll create a home assistant add-on to count your farts in private. Geez, people… 🙄
Nope, manual counting only, and only by those who notice.
“What is my purpose?”
“To suck my farts.”
“Oh my God.”
Note: remove voice capabilities.
And then sells telemetry data back to the mothership…
I hope it emits a loud buzz or beep with every emission. Or maybe an automatic “excuse me”
Followed by a spritz of air freshener, like the automatic ones in some bathrooms.
My first thought
I don’t need a microchip near my ass to tell me that I don’t eat enough vegetables.
No way. The government will be hacking in to steal the data. I’m wearing tinfoil underwear, just in case.
Sounds interesting and entirely unaffordable.
Sensors that track gasses are incredibly cheap. I can build a VOC, CO2, PM2-10, CO, Smoke, etc for about $50 from parts on AliExpress. A sensor that tracks just hydrogen should be way less.
Edit:
methaneHydrogenYou have any guides about doing that? My landlord says I have enough ventilation flow, but the only way I can get a good night’s sleep is by having my windows open, even when it’s -10 outside.
It’s probably easier just to buy one that’s already premade. They’re not prohibitively expensive (at least not the ones that are too large to fit in your pants). Just be sure to read the specs for what it can detect, and learn what each one means.
If you really enjoy soldering, you can buy the components from an electrical supply store (think like radio shack) and then wire them together with an LCD display and program them yourself.
It might be cheap to build yourself then but cheap parts have rarely deterred a capitalist.
I had to read the headline three times before it made sense.
… It wasn’t worth it.
Is this accurate enough? I feel like we already have consumer devices that would not take much modification to get a much closer look.
