Counting Farts for Science

How often do you fart? Whatever you answered, you’re probably wrong! People are really bad at knowing how often they pass gas, says Brantley Hall, a biologist at the University of Maryland. Hall has spent the past five years developing Smart Underwear, a sensor that clips into a person’s underwear to track their farts. In one test on 19 healthy adults, Hall found that they farted 32 times a day on average— more than twice doctors’ typical estimate of 14 times a day!

Now Hall’s team is collecting data from 10,000 people for a project called the Human Flatus Atlas. It aims to determine the real range of human fart production. Learning more about farts can help scientists better understand gut health. “It illuminates digestion,” says Hall.