A Magic Poo-Enhancing Toilet; The Science of Bieber Fever

Discovered: An eco-friendly toilet, living together before marriage is a bad idea, once again coffee does good things to our bodies, and Bieber Fever is mental.

Discovered: An eco-friendly toilet, living together before marriage is a bad idea, once again coffee does good things to our bodies, and Bieber Fever is mental.

• This toilet can do wonders for the world. As full of waste as toilets get, they are just as wasteful, using up lots and lots of water just to get our poo out of sight. This new eco-friendly loo not only saves water, but turns fecal mater into energy. "Having the human waste separated at source and processed on-site would lower costs needed in recovering resources, as treating mixed waste is energy intensive and not cost-effective,” explains researcher Wang Jing-Yuan. "With our innovative toilet system, we can use simpler and cheaper methods of harvesting the useful chemicals and even produce fuel and energy from waste," he continues. Specifically, the toilet sends solid, liquid and water to different processing plants, where science can use it for other things. [Nanyang Technological University]
• Couples that live together before marriage don't stay together. Goodbye, conventional wisdom: Science has found couples that move in together before marriage break up more often than those who wait. Researchers thinks it has to do with the type of commitment cohabitation suggests. Living together means couples are less likely to break up if they have issues. "In lots of ways, moving in together makes sense; why wouldn't you want to live together and test it out? But the process to test makes it harder to end the relationship," explains researcher Galena Rhoades. "We need to find some ways that couples can have that test without making it harder to break-up." So, science isn't saying don't live together before marriage, it's saying don't stay living together and then get married if you're miserable. [University of Denver]
• Once again coffee is deemed healthy. Following the backlash to a study that might have suggested drinking coffee could make you live longer, we get another coffee-is-healthy study coming our way. This time, science says moderate coffee drinking protects against heart failure. "Compared with no consumption, the strongest protection we observed was at about four European, or two eight-ounce American, servings of coffee per day," explains researcher Elizabeth Mostofsky. Sorry coffee addicts, everything in moderation. "Our results did show a possible benefit, but like with so many other things we consume, it really depends on how much coffee you drink," she continues. [Beth Israel Medical Center]
• The science of Bieber Fever. The brain is wired so that teenage girls' brain release dopamine when they hear familiar or favorite music. Listening to J-Biebs is like eating chocolate, winning, or taking certain types of drugs for these kids. Hearing Bieber is probably the closest feeling to doing drugs these kids have ever experienced. "It may drive you crazy as parents to hear their music, but it's a sign of psychological health," explains researcher Patrick Markey. Parents: It's better than actual drugs, right? [WSJ]