Why you need to be honoring your daily doodies.

INSIGHT

Your poop holds the key to your vitality.

There are many myths surrounding poop inspection of a many great peoples: the famous scene from The Last Emperor where the palace physician leaned over to smell Pu Yi’s poop with a discerning nod, Stalin’s supposed fascination with wanting to study Mao’s goods in a lab, or even the discovery that a beloved obese Elvis had an additional 10-40 (depending on the source) pounds of excrement in his colon at death; possibly linked to the over-straining while pooping that brought on his cardiac arrest. The premise of the myths weren’t so far off — there are multitudes of health information available each time we drop a dookie. Rather than flushing it out-of-sight/mind, why aren’t we using this ultimate daily indicator as a window into our health? Whether Puyi’s physician took such delight in his daily task, we won’t know; but it was common practice as logged in the Annals (two “n”s people) of Traditional Chinese Medicine to give feces it’s due inspection; analyzing color, shape, size, consistency, texture, odour, remnants, and frequency as direct indicators to various ailments or conditions. Our disgust for feces is hardwired for good reason, but our extra-comfort-designed lives have separated us from our attention to waste (in the global sense) to an extent where we are missing valuable short-term cues that can prevent chronic dis-ease. Not to mention the ability to design better ways to flush and manage that waste.

And this information doesn’t have to be solely relegated to an annual health check plastic cup: we can assess it every day; hopefully with the aid of technology that can educate us on vital signs that go beyond the few sensory cues we’ve relied on in the past. In fact, Japanese bathroom behemoth, Toto, was far ahead of the curve by harnessing the age-old medicinal habit of inspecting poo by developing a technologically advanced toilet, capable of reading all types of bodily fluids for a dynamic picture of health — but likely hit the wall of economies of scale at the time of development and adoption as it was the early 80s. But the horizon they were seeing has arrived. It's time we treat our waste with more respect, smart tech and sensible disposal design.

INSPIRATION

E.Chromi

Winner of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), the combined brains of designers and scientists came up with E.chromi, a self-diagnostic test for dangerous pathogens and parasites in stool by ingesting a yogurt containing the standardized DNA sequences that would enable the bacteria to change color upon detection. This was 10 years ago!!! And the designers took on the challenge with the big picture in mind:

Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King worked with the team to explore the potential of this new technology, while it was being developed in the lab. They designed a timeline proposing ways that a foundational technology such as E. chromi could develop over the next century. These scenarios include food additives, patenting issues, personalised medicine, terrorism and new types of weather. Not necessarily desirable, they explore the different agendas that could shape the use of E. chromi and in turn, our everyday lives. This collaboration has meant that E. chromi is a technology that has been designed at both the genetic and the human scale, setting a precedent for future collaborations between designers and scientists.

Here, we feature the Scatalog: In 2039, cheap, personalised disease monitoring works from the inside out. Ingested as yoghurt, E. chromi colonise the gut. The bacteria keep watch for chemical markers of disease, producing an easy-to-read warning signals to prompt you to see your doctor.

INNOVATION

“Rainbow Poop”

Probiotic gels that are consumed when you need an indication of your health state through the coloration of your stool.

• Take home gel packs with testable markers for irritable bowel symptoms to test beneficial bacteria, dysbiotic/pathogenic bacteria, parasites, worms, yeast/candida, mold, digestion/absorption markers, inflammation markers, secretory IgA (for overactive immune systems), short chain fatty acid markers and intestinal health markers to make sure you don't have a leaky gut.

• Sensitive stomachs with irritating pains from constipation, diarrhea, bloody stool, gas and bloating, digestive disorders, food sensitivities, leaky gut and other pains are often over-looked at the doctor's office or remediated with chemical or anti-biotic prescriptions. What the gut really needs is the proper diagnosis for healthy pre and probiotic trains.

• These probiotic gels include certain trains of bacteria that change the color of your stool when it detects the presence of a pathogen, toxin or imbalance: turning a certain color that corresponds to the 3-week probiotic plan you should consider.

• Work work at once to diagnose and repopulate your gut with a diverse set of microbiota so that after some time, ceasing the regimen is as easy as noticing normal colored stool.