Toilet 2.0 - Huh!? Oh!

If you live in an economically developed country you probably use a flush toilet, and the only notable changes I've seen in that technology during the past several decades is the low-flow toilet. You know, one that uses less water than its predecessors. What else could you do to improve it?

As it turns out, a toilet is something that people living in economically developed countries take largely for granted, but about 1/4 of the world's population does not have access to a sanitary toilet, and that translates into a big, big public health problem. It's such a big problem that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has established a program promoting the development of toilet technologies that can be deployed anywhere that can not only provide access to sanitary toilet facilities, but also provide added benefits like energy, fertilizer, and even drinkable freshwater.
I was flipping through the 10 August 2012 issue of the journal "Science" when I came across an article that made me double-take.  The article's title is "Finding a New Way to Go".  The article summary states that "The flush toilet was a transformative invention, but experts say its time may be past..."

Huh!?

I try my best to stay generally aware of what's going on in the world of science, but "Toilet Science" has never really been on my radar...well, except when I need one.  :-)

Anyway, I was intrigued so I dug into the article, so to speak.

Just in case you don't know, "Science" is the most prestigious science journal published in the United States, and is published by the AAAS - The American Association for the Advancement of Science" the most prestigious scientific community in the country, and perhaps in the world, though I'm sure the Royal Society in Great Britain would certainly take issue with that claim, but that's fodder for another posting.

So here's the most prestigious scientific publication in the world including work from the field of, um "toilet science(?)" in it's main portal to the world.  Curious?  OK...I'll go on.  This is a video posted in the "Science" magazine article I referred to above.  It addresses the problem:

Science - Video Portal

If you live in If you live in an economically developed country you probably use a flush toilet, and the only notable changes I've seen in that technology during the past several decades is the low-flow toilet.  You know, one that uses less water than its predecessors.  What else could you do to improve it?

As it turns out, a toilet is something that people living in economically developed countries take largely for granted, but about 1/5 of the world's population does not have access to a sanitary toilet, and that translates into a big, big public health problem.  It's such a big problem that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has established a program promoting the development of toilet technologies that can be deployed anywhere that can not only provide access to sanitary toilet facilities, but also provide added benefits like energy, fertilizer, and even drinkable freshwater.

Here's a video from their site.

Yep, The Gates Foundation and scientists around the world are on a quest to discover Toilet 2.0.  A toilet that will do much more than just flush our, um, you know, away.

If you want to learn more about this effort you can visit the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "Reinventing the Toilet" page by following this link:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/watersanitationhygiene/Pages/home.aspx

Keep your eyes open, there's no telling what science will do its best to do for you next!