Scientific news
As the world’s population continues to grow, and conflicts deprive more and more people of access to toilets, toilets are becoming a major challenge in preventing epidemics. They are also a precious tool for scientists.
© Gabriel Mouahid / IHPE / CNRS Images
View the mediaPlaces of comfort, places of science: sometimes taking on unusual forms when built with the means at hand during expeditions into the wilderness, toilets are also the subject of rigorous study by scientists. It's easy to see why: rich in more or less tasty materials for biologists and chemists to analyze, they also inform anthropologists about the place they occupy and the symbolic charge they carry within a given society. And for ecologists, the problem is even more complex, as they have to invent new, less polluting devices to meet the challenges of climate change and overpopulation.
Above all, we need to talk about epidemiological problems, of which toilets are both the potential cause and the thermometer. In 2024, three and a half billion people will still be living without access to a safe sanitation service, with all that this implies in terms of unsanitary conditions, and therefore epidemics. And in the best-equipped countries, the incidence rate of a disease is now measured by analysing urban wastewater... Even in animals, faeces are sifted to assess the state of health of groups and monitor individuals over extended periods.
The toilet is therefore a fascinating and rapidly evolving object, as you can discover in this selection of videos and photo reports to mark World Toilet Day.
Our work is guided by the way scientists question the world around them and we translate their research into images to help people to understand the world better and to awaken their curiosity and wonderment.
