Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. It's a really big deal when fossilized feces survive the ravages of time. These hardened pieces of excrement open up a window into what animals ate thousands of years ago and even what may have made them sick . Humans are not exempt from this, with dried human feces indicating we have always loved cheese and beer and that our microbiome has evolved over thousands of years. DNA recovered from 1,000-year-old dried feces indicates that intestinal infections from pinworm or Shingella may have plagued ancient people living in present day northern Mexico's Rio Zape Valley.

Soft robots have found extensive applications in the medical field, particularly in rehabilitation exercises, assisted grasping, and artificial organs. Despite significant advancements in simulating various components of the digestive system, the rectum has been largely neglected due to societal stigma. This study seeks to address this gap by developing soft circular muscle actuators (CMAs) and rectum models to replicate the defecation process. Using soft materials, both the rectum and the actuators were fabricated to enable seamless integration and attachment. We designed, fabricated, and tested three types of CMAs and compared them to the simulated results. A pneumatic system was employed to control the actuators, and simulated stool was synthesized using sodium alginate and calcium chloride. Experimental results indicated that the third type of actuator exhibited superior performance in terms of area contraction and pressure generation. The successful simulation of the defecation process highlights the potential of these soft actuators in biomedical applications, providing a foundation for further research and development in the field of soft robotics.

Fecal incontinence, arising from a myriad of pathogenic mechanisms, has attracted considerable global attention. Despite its significance, the replication of the defecatory system for studying fecal incontinence mechanisms remains limited largely due to social stigma and taboos. Inspired by the rectum's functionalities, we have developed a soft robotic system, encompassing a power supply, pressure sensing, data acquisition systems, a flushing mechanism, a stage, and a rectal module. The innovative soft rectal module includes actuators inspired by sphincter muscles, both soft and rigid covers, and soft rectum mold. The rectal mold, fabricated from materials that closely mimic human rectal tissue, is produced using the mold replication fabrication method. Both the soft and rigid components of the mold are realized through the application of 3D-printing technology. The sphincter muscles-inspired actuators featuring double-layer pouch structures are modeled and optimized based on multilayer perceptron methods aiming to obtain high contractions ratios (100 %), high generated pressure (9.8 kPa), and small recovery time (3 s). Upon assembly, this defecation robot is capable of smoothly expelling liquid faeces, performing controlled solid fecal cutting, and defecating extremely solid long faeces, thus closely replicating the human rectum and anal canal's functions. This defecation robot has the potential to assist humans in understanding the complex defecation system and contribute to the development of well-being devices related to defecation.

Everybody poops--and after a few thousand years underground, these droppings often start to look the same. That stool-based similarity poses something of a puzzle for archaeologists investigating sites where dogs and humans once cohabited, as it isn't always easy to deduce which species left behind specific feces. But as a team of researchers writes in the journal PeerJ, a newly developed artificial intelligence system may end these troubles once and for all. Called corpoID--an homage to "coprolite," the formal term for fossilized feces--the program is able to distinguish the subtle differences between ancient samples of human and canine excrement based on DNA data alone, reports David Grimm for Science magazine. Applied to feces unearthed from sites around the world, the new method could help researchers unveil a trove of valuable information about a defecator's diet, health, and perhaps--if the excretion contains enough usable DNA--identity.

Kyocera Corp. has started developing a device to check human health and immunity from the odor of one's stool, aiming to put it into practical use in three years. In collaboration with AuB Inc., a Tokyo-based startup, Kyocera will analyze data from the device, which will be installed in toilet seats. The Kyoto-based electronics giant will create a system that infers the intestinal environment of the user with the aid of artificial intelligence technology and data collected by AuB, according to Kyocera officials. Kyocera will deliver the results to clients through a smartphone application and propose measures to improve diet and other elements of their lives to improve health, the officials said. As part of the development process, AuB will gather stool samples from 29 players of a youth team belonging to Kyoto Sanga F.C., a professional soccer team.

David Hachuel wants pictures of your poop -- for science. The computer scientist-turned-entrepreneur is working to build the world's largest database of human stool photos -- up to 100,000 in all. The images will be used to teach an artificial intelligence to tell the difference between stool that's consistent with good health and stool that could be evidence of gastrointestinal ailments like irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease. The color, shape and consistency of stool hold important clues that help doctors make diagnoses. Hachuel thinks the photos can form the basis of an app that nonphysicians can use to obtain such information on their own.

There are over 35 million households in the US with dogs and backyards, and it may be safe to say that not one of them enjoys cleaning up their pet's mess. A firm has designed a robot that finds, detects and automatically scoops up what your canine friend left behind. Called Beetl, this machine is equip with computer vision and front cameras to hunt down dog poop. Once the robot spots feces within your yard, it moves directly over it and uses a mechanical claw as a scoop. And the robot holds it in a sealed container for disposal. Bettl's sensors not only help it detect a mess, but also avoid obstacles and stay within a perimeter.

She saw the window of opportunity and took it! A British man launched a GoFundMe campaign Tuesday asking viewers to help buy him a new window after his Tinder date got stuck in his old window while trying to retrieve her feces she discarded and had to be rescued by emergency officials. Liam Smyth, a student at the University of Bristol, wrote on the page that he had recently went on a first date with a fellow college student. He and his date had a lovely evening and went back to his residence for a "bottle of wine and a Scientology documentary." Smyth said his date went to the bathroom at one point but came out "with a panicked look in her eye."

Fire fighters rescued a woman who got trapped in a window while she attempted to retrieve feces she allegedly tossed out of her Tinder date's window, according to reports. She apparently tried to discard the feces after it failed to flush down the toilet. Liam Smith from Bristol, England started an online fundraising page to cover the damages his date allegedly caused to his apartment window. The two apparently met through the dating app Tinder and had retired back to Smith's apartment after a trip to a local restaurant, according to Smith's fundraising page. Local firefighting squad Avon Fire and Rescue confirmed to local newspaper Bristol Post that they received a call on Aug. 7 to Smith's address.

A Dutch startup is set to release a fleet of'drones' to combat the 220 million pounds of dog droppings left on the Netherlands' streets each year. Called Dogdrones, the vehicles will work together as a team to detect and scoop up the poop. The aerial drone is fitted with cameras and thermal energy technology that transmits GPS coordinates of the feces to a rolling robot on the ground that immediately leaves its hub to clean up the waste. A Dutch startup is set release a fleet of'drones' to combat the 220 million pounds of dog droppings left on the Netherlands's streets each year. Watchdog 1, uses a camera and thermal imaging to scan the environment for canine waste. The thermal imaging will then crate a heat map showing the location, which is translated into GPS coordinates and sent to Patroldog 1 – the ground robot.