[HN Gopher] UMD Scientists Create 'Smart Underwear' to Measure H...
___________________________________________________________________
UMD Scientists Create 'Smart Underwear' to Measure Human Flatulence
Author : ohjeez
Score : 79 points
Date : 2026-03-15 15:45 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (cbmg.umd.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (cbmg.umd.edu)
| toenail wrote:
| I wonder what comes after that, a tax for methane emissions?
| kotaKat wrote:
| "This workplace is an Ultra-Low Emissions Zone. Violations will
| result in a daily standing charge docked from your pay."
| Simulacra wrote:
| You speak in jest but compared to other taxes that have been
| proposed.. I can't say that you'd be wrong
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| Future Ig Nobel candidate?
|
| I signed up for the study. I like to participate in studies at
| the local college and I track my sleep and stuff daily on my
| watch. Kind of excited about this. I'll report back with my data
| if I get picked
|
| Update: dang
|
| Thank you for your interest in the Human Flatus Atlas and for
| your willingness to participate in our study.
|
| Due to overwhelming demand, we are currently experiencing a
| temporary pause in onboarding new participants. At this time, we
| kindly ask that you save the personalized consent form link you
| received, as it will be required to continue your participation
| once we are ready to bring you on board.
|
| We will send a notification once we have expanded capacity to
| accommodate all participants.
|
| We are thrilled by the incredible response to this study and
| truly appreciate your patience and enthusiasm. We look forward to
| your participation.
|
| Sincerely, The Human Flatus Atlas Research Team
| batch12 wrote:
| Sincerely, TH FART
| dguest wrote:
| Ig Nobel is doing more for science than Nobel:
|
| - It's fun.
|
| - The prizes are accessible to young scientists who actually
| need the career boost from the publicity (as opposed to
| established scientists who are mostly boosting the prestige of
| the prize)
|
| - They promote awareness of how diverse and awesome science is.
| salad-tycoon wrote:
| Small annoyance, the team name is missing an E.
|
| Wish they had gone with The Human Enterologic Flatulence Atlas
| Research Team.
| kotaKat wrote:
| Tired: Kohler's poop camera.
|
| Sleepy: Withings' piss sensor.
|
| Wired: Smart fart panties.
| shermantanktop wrote:
| When gas hits $5 a gallon at the pump, scientists get creative.
| whynotmaybe wrote:
| Time to rewatch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderpants
| paulbjensen wrote:
| ...and the Danes will tax it, just like they tax cow farts.
| CalRobert wrote:
| Well, given that both are destructive to the planet, that makes
| some sense.
|
| (Also, cow burps are the bigger issue)
| nullorempty wrote:
| Clearly. Seems like the top concern for today's the powers
| that be.
| ramon156 wrote:
| Methane is the most harmful gas right now, but the solution for
| some reason is more money to the gov. Maybe we should do
| something about that meat industry
| nullorempty wrote:
| Methane you say.
|
| May be they should just stop the wars for now. Stop spilling
| oil into the seas. Stop dropping bombs. Stop all the crazy
| shit they are doing.
|
| As far as meat is concerned - our bodies need meat and fat to
| stay healthy.
| 6510 wrote:
| > Stop all the crazy shit they are doing.
|
| But then we would have to accept methane is an excellent
| fuel and that we have an abundance of it. No one on the
| fortune 500 likes that idea.
| nullorempty wrote:
| Life is stranger than fiction.
| nullorempty wrote:
| And I just invented a fart-tube to route gasses away from sensors
| - already assuming farts will be taxed.
| portly wrote:
| I need a smell amplifier
| SoftTalker wrote:
| My first question was: who funded this? Seems like a candidate
| for a Proxmire Golden Fleece Award.
|
| _This research was supported by the University of Maryland, the
| Maryland Innovation Initiative Phase I and the UM Ventures
| Medical Device Development Fund._
| toraway wrote:
| Or just maybe, it was developed to further a legitimately
| needed area of medical research with direct human clinical
| relevance like quantifying differences in the microbiome for
| colorectal cancer, etc.
|
| The concept of the Golden Fleece awards (and whatever Rand
| Paul's version is called) linking a reaction of "sounds stupid
| to me" by a random layperson with "taxpayers are getting ripped
| off" is inherently faulty and weaponizing populism to sabotage
| publicly funded scientific research.
| k4rnaj1k wrote:
| This can potenitally help people actually tell if their
| microbiome is okay. Seems like an actually useful study and will
| be very helpful for doctors.
| salad-tycoon wrote:
| Finally, we might have proof that family member(X) truly is
| releasing biological weapons grade flatulence at the next
| holiday get together.
| xrd wrote:
| I do think this has a chance of breaking records for clinical
| trial participation rates.
| nytesky wrote:
| I know this is worthwhile, especially with the rise in colorectal
| cancer in younger adults, perhaps this will help in early
| detection.
|
| But I did take a double take and go "Is it April already?"
| vivzkestrel wrote:
| - imagine if you had superpowers to do anything
|
| - i would replace everyone s underwear secretly with a bass base
| to emit a loud noise everytime someone farted
|
| - imagine how many loud bops you would hear at the airport every
| second
| MarkusWandel wrote:
| That sounds like a classig igNobel Prize candidate!
| bdangubic wrote:
| Meta should buy this and make people in 3rd world countries watch
| this in real time
| tootie wrote:
| Was just thinking about the surveillance aspect of this. Nobody
| would be able to pretend it was someone else who farted.
| throwup238 wrote:
| This reminds me of one of the pinnacles of Canadian culture,
| Kenny vs Spenny. In one episode titled "Who Can Blow the Biggest
| Farts?" they used a device that measures flatulence to judge who
| blew the biggest fart.
|
| I assume with this underwear we all can participate in gamified
| flatulence with a global leader board.
| impish9208 wrote:
| Some PM somewhere is asking when this API will be available in
| the browser so that their site and its 413 trusted partners can
| delight their visitors with more relevant ads.
| fortranfiend wrote:
| Some things should be left unknown.
| gundmc wrote:
| Mythbusters made a version of this in an unaired segment of their
| 2006 episode about passing gas
| https://youtu.be/RHcDP_Yew-g?si=T7AONGdXPd4d_gM3
| elcapitan wrote:
| > in an unaired segment
|
| checks out
| euroderf wrote:
| These measurements will not be complete if they do not measure
| the other two states of matter, liquid and solid. I don't know
| about you, but they've been known to appear.
| WaxProlix wrote:
| As long as you're not achieving Plasma you're probably fine.
| oulipo2 wrote:
| Can we bind it so when I fart it closes the tab?
| MrWiffles wrote:
| I'll remind us all that the subject of human flatulence has been
| one of interest for some of history's greatest minds - and
| humorists - for several centuries at the very least:
|
| https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-02...
| financetechbro wrote:
| Calling farts "Quantity of Wind" is peak class. I will adopt
| this nomenclature
| nacozarina wrote:
| if they are electrified, they can be hacked to be an ignition
| source
| aanet wrote:
| Hand 'em the IgNoble prize already
| shwaj wrote:
| I need a pair that can measure pitch and timbre.
| tomkarho wrote:
| Waiting on the legislation demanding that every underwear must
| have these "safety" features and then someone will insert a meter
| to those and start taxing us for every single puff.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| Countries struggle to keep drugs, immigrants or straight up
| vape shops away. If we fail to keep our most basic laws
| enforced, how do you imagine stuff like this working. Cheap
| sarcasm like this has no place on HN.
| svilen_dobrev wrote:
| digital Farthings, here they come
| evanjrowley wrote:
| I considered becoming and early adopter but decided my needs
| would be better served after someone develops an industrial/Mil-
| Spec variant with wider range of operating temperatures,
| environmental resistance, and impact rating.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-03-15 23:01 UTC)