The Powers of Urine

Urine has been in the news in two separate instances recently. First, in an attempt to understand the role of pheromone-rich urine in the ways many animals recognize and choose their mate, researchers at the University of Calgary studied the effects of urine on the brain. Interestingly, "[a]nimals exposed to urine from dominant males showed around a 25% increase in new neurons in two brain regions. Those exposed to clean bedding, or urine from females or subordinate males showed no such increase." Scientists also discovered a related trend: Female mice who usually prefer dominant males become indifferent to status when given a neuron production blocking chemical, indicating adult neurogenesis may be involved in female mate selection.

Second, researchers at the University of Kalyani discovered human urine grows plankton more effectively than cow urine, vermin compost, poultry droppings or cow dung - all of which are commonly used on fish farms where chemical fertilizers are not available or are too costly. Plankton grown using cocktails of the various excrements (at a ratio of half a liter of urine or half a kilo of dung to every 4,500 liters of water) hatched faster, lived longer, and had more offspring. The explanation? "[H]uman urine contains high concentrations of nitrogen compounds that degrade rapidly to release amino acids and minerals, fertilizing the growth of algae, which the plankton then feeds on." Additionally, human urine is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than chemical fertilizers, and there appear to be no diseases or abnormalities in the grown zooplankton. The only lingering concern is the potential passing of antibiotics and hormones to the environment, something which has hampered human urine use as an agricultural fertilizer in the past.

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