A smart toilet is able to instantly take tests and detect diseases

Over the past 15 years at StanfordUniversity (USA) was pretty fun. The fact is that Professor Sanjeev Gambir working there with his team, contrary to the ridicule of his colleagues, was engaged in the development of a “smart” toilet with the function of recognizing a person by the shape of the anus and identifying diseases by the composition of urine and excrement. It sounds strange, disgusting and dirty, but in fact, this technology in the future can save thousands of people from the development of dangerous diseases. Having installed such a toilet in their home, people will be able to regularly send information to their doctors about their state of health, and those who notice dangerous changes will be able to call them in and start timely treatment. Now the idea of ​​American scientists does not look so strange, does it? Let's see how a “smart” toilet works and whether we might ever need it.

In the future, some people may not need to go to the hospital for testing.

Smart toilet with useful features

The invention of American scientists wasnarrated in New Atlas. It is reported that the “smart” toilet outwardly does not differ from the usual one - in fact, it is a seat stuffed with electronics, from which wires go to other parts of the toilet. So, a fingerprint scanner is built into the tank drain button. When a person enters the toilet, he must put a finger on him and let the toilet and doctors understand that everything that comes out of him now belongs to him and no one else. If a person is very ill and cannot touch the button, the toilet using the camera will recognize his personality by the shape of the anus. The developers have not yet talked about how patients will register their “fingerprint”. However, it’s good - I don’t really want to imagine it and know it.

Interesting fact: Professor Sanjeev Gambir admits that it sounds very strange, but he’s sure that the shapes of our anal holes are unique, just like fingerprints and the pattern of the retina

In addition to personal recognition, a camera is needed fortaking video of the power of a stream of urine and the density of a human stool. Their composition is instantly determined using materials installed in the toilet, which react to the presence of certain substances. So, with the help of physical and chemical properties, it is possible to detect in a person the development of renal failure, irritable bowel syndrome and even prostate cancer. The camera will most likely not need to be replaced, but test strips that are sensitive to various substances will probably need to be regularly updated.

To take tests at home, you don’t need to buy a new toilet - you just need to correctly install a “smart” seat

How are tests tested?

Since we touched on the topic of test analysis,let's see how this all happens with human urine samples. When we take tests, hospital staff examine their physical and chemical properties. This is what they pay the most attention to:

• urine color a healthy person is painted in different shades of yellow. If it has a dark shade, it means that the patient may have inflammation of the liver. A red tint indicates kidney injury;
• urine transparency should be high, because the turbid liquid indicates an excess of salts and mucous secretions - these are also signs of the presence of diseases of the liver, kidneys and other organs;
• urine odor a healthy person is unpleasant, but not sharp. Sometimes the liquid may have the smell of ammonia and this is a clear sign of an infectious disease;
• sediment in urine can be formed due to an excess of proteins and salts, and a large number of them is characteristic of diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract;
• urine count also important because the bodya healthy person daily releases a maximum of 2 liters of fluid. If a person has diabetes, the amount of fluid released can reach 8 liters.

When analyzing feces, doctors also turnattention to physical and chemical properties. Color, composition and other properties may indicate the presence and absence of certain diseases. Only doctors can figure this out, but if there is blood in a person’s stool, there’s nothing good about it.

Medicine of the future

In principle, it turns out that the createdAmerican scientists toilet is a medical laboratory at home. It is reported that the information received will be collected anonymously and transmitted to attending physicians through secure networks. Patients themselves are unlikely to find out information about their analyzes, because they are able to look at them and begin to search for disease symptoms on the Internet. And then self-medication of unconfirmed diseases can go further, which can cause real harm to their health.

An obsession to look for symptoms of illness on the Internet is called cyberchondria. I wrote about this phenomenon in this material.

The cost of a smart toilet is unknown becausehe is hardly ready for sale in stores so far. To find out whether their invention will be in demand, scientists conducted a survey among 300 people. According to 15% of respondents, a high-tech toilet can be very useful for some patients, and 37% answered that this idea is very interesting. The rest of the respondents, apparently, did not very well appreciate the idea of ​​American scientists.



"Smart" toilets already exist, but they can only automatically run a flush

In general, the invention may well find itsthe buyer. For example, people with chronic illnesses and patients who cannot leave their home may be interested in them. They will be able to constantly be under the control of doctors, who will be able to prescribe medications to people at the very beginning of the development of diseases. Also, the toilet can be bought by hospital managers, because it will be much easier to monitor the condition of patients.

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The idea is interesting, but in the light of the pandemicof the COVID-19 coronavirus, I noticed that before using the toilet, people will need to touch the fingerprint scanner on the flush button. Once again, I want to remind you that after any such interactions, it is important to wash your hands thoroughly. My colleague Lyubov Sokovikova reminded of this in 2019 - then it was found out that people who do not wash their hands after using the toilet spread dangerous diseases. I recommend reading it!