Recent scientific and technological advancements include Li-Fi which is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi and a fancy desk that allows you to lay down while you work. However, this latest invention harks back to the most banal of activities—peeing.
According to Gizmodo, a pair of splash experts have invented a “urine black hole” that basically prevents spashback from peeing in urinals. Tadd Truscott, director of Utah State University’s Splash Lab, and graduate student, Randy Hurd looked to design a urinal insert design that will “suppress the splash for you even if you have poor technique.”
They found their answer in a heavily-absorbent moss called Syntrichia caninervis which thrives in drive climates and works hard at collecting and storing as much water as possible. Vantablack is a material that mimics those much-desired properties and has been described as the blackest material ever made.
“The substance consists of a tall (relatively) forest of carbon nanotubes into which light can enter, but does not come out. Looking at pictures of this material is very eerie because it doesn’t reflect light in any way. We thought if it works with light, maybe we can find the conditions that make it work with droplets (to the physicist), or pee (for the American working man),” the scientists said.
So their new design utilizes a similar “black hole” structure that keeps urine inside the bowl and away from your pants. They even simulated urine streams to test out the different ways splashback can happen in order to reach peak splash suppression.
