Chosen by children
The Klokhuis Science Prize was announced on Sunday, March 16, during InScience by Klokhuis presenter Janouk Kelderman. Over 300 children had the opportunity to meet the scientists during the program ‘Meet the Researcher’ at the Mariënburg Library. The winner was chosen by children who voted on the research they found most interesting and relevant via the Het Klokhuis website. More than 8,000 votes were cast. Het Klokhuis will produce an episode about the winning research, which will premiere at the next edition of InScience in 2026.
A smart toilet seat that measures poop and farts
Did you know that a smart toilet seat exists? When you need to pee or poop, this toilet seat measures your health. Researchers use this toilet seat not only to learn more about diseases in your gut but also to assess how healthy you are. With this toilet seat, the researchers track how often you need to poop, how long you actually sit on the toilet seat, and whether you do anything else, like reading Donald Duck or looking at your phone. And is that last part actually smart? What would you want to discover with a smart toilet seat?
Research by the Dutch fund for gastrointestinal diseases shows that half of the kids at primary school do not have the courage to poop at school. They might find the toilets too dirty or feel there's not enough privacy. But that's neither smart nor healthy. Talking openly about poop and pee is very important and helps break the taboo.
