It’s all in the name of science, but that doesn’t mean science can’t be funny. Australian research agency CSIRO wants to help the public learn more about their gut health by tracking their flatulence. They even created an app for it.
The Chart Your Fart app takes its job seriously, with a thorough number of metrics for tracking users’ flatulence. It wants to know not only when, but duration (brief to eternity), volume (silent to deafening), stench (odorless to toxic), how long the smell lingered (fleeting to perpetual) and its detectability (discreet to blatant). And it has a whole laundry list of alternative words for fart just to make things more entertaining (oh to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting).
“We want to showcase the potential of public-led research and ask the community to come on board with shaping our future health and well-being science,” said Project Lead and CSIRO Behavioral Scientist Dr. Emily Brindal. “We rely on the public to share their experience with us for so much of our health and well-being research, but we also want to hear what research the community wants us to do — it is about keeping it real and relevant, but why not have some fun too?”
