It might be stinky and it might be unpleasant to behold, but we all do it. For many of us, our poop is out of sight, out of mind once we flush it away. But for the next hour and fifteen minutes or so, we’re going to bring it back into mind as we delve into the rich world of poop. This episode, the first of a two-part miniseries on poop, features a wide cast of characters all with some role in the production or management of poo, like our intestinal tract with its sphincters and microbiota, dung beetles that perform the duties so crucial for ecosystem function, and the sperm whale that produces a revered substance used in perfumes. We’re going behind the scenes to understand how the sausage really gets made (in a manner of speaking) and why we need a big perspective shift to stop seeing poop as waste and start seeing it as a resource.
Correction: EW says that elephants poop 15 pounds a day, but in reality it’s more like 10x that – 150-200 pounds! Sorry for the mistake – we noticed it while listening through.
| History | Biology |
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| O’Donnell, L.J., Virjee, J. and Heaton, K., 1990. Detection of pseudodiarrhoea by simple clinical assessment of intestinal transit rate. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 300(6722), p.439. | |
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