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Portland, Oregon has a serious homeless problem and now it’s about to get worse. Much worse. The disease of Shigella is spreading in the city, mostly through the homeless population, and to make matters worse, it spreads in a disgusting way, through fecal matter. Aside from the ethical matter of allowing people to live on the street, one of the biggest issues is the threat to public health. This is why you don’t want a large population of people living in tents and using streets as a bathroom. FOX News reports: Portland health officials report waste-borne illness rampant among city’s...

Fertiliser made from human faeces and urine is safe to use in agriculture and has "huge potential" to replace 25% of current synthetic products in some countries, according to research. The findings come as farmers continue to struggle with rising fertiliser costs due to a combination of climate change and the war in Ukraine. Researchers screened human waste for 310 chemicals - including rubber additives, insect repellents and pharmaceuticals - and only found them in 6.5% of the samples examined, but still at low concentrations. Scientists said low levels of the painkiller ibuprofen and mood-stabilising drug carbamazepine were found -...

Sperm whale faeces 'offset CO2 emissions'Page last updated at 21:33 GMT, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 22:33 UK By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News Sperm whales may put a gentle (and unwitting) brake on climate change Sperm whale faeces may help oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the air, scientists say. Australian researchers calculate that Southern Ocean sperm whales release about 50 tonnes of iron every year. This stimulates the growth of tiny marine plants - phytoplankton - which absorb CO2 during photosynthesis. The process results in the absorption of about 40,000 tonnes of carbon - more than twice as much...

Cure for killer bug - but there's a catch KATE FOSTER IN THE annals of medical history, this could go down as one of the most effective but stomach-churning treatments ever devised. Scientists seeking a cure for a deadly superbug have successfully treated patients using human faeces. Trials in a Scottish hospital have shown patients suffering from the Clostridium difficile bug can be cured using 'donor stool' administered via a tube through the nose into their stomach. Clostridium difficile was last week at the heart of a damning report into cleaning failures at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust...

News in Science 2/4/2003 Caterpillars fling faeces afar to fool foes [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s822336.htm] [photo] Above: a skipper caterpillar lays down a silk guy-wire for its leaf shelter. Below: adult skippers make some more (Pics: M Weiss, C Williams) Caterpillars shoot their faeces more than a metre from their homes to protect themselves from predators, an American ecologist has discovered. Dr Martha Weiss of Georgetown University in Washington, wondered if animals gain an evolutionary advantage by developing sophisticated strategies to manage their waste. In the current edition of Ecology Letters, Weiss reports on experiments with...