Random Thought #114

What does Bill Gates have to do with corn? I know...weird question right? I recall reading lately about The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsoring an event that will bring many of the brightest folks around to develop a new generation of toilet. Its supposed to generate energy, recycle feces, and not require any running water. Cool huh? Don't believe me...GOOGLE IT! Anyways, as I was reading about this endeavor, I read where they were ordering large amounts of fake poo. That started me thinking about poo (I know, I'm weird) and why it is that whenever you eat corn, it goes from mastication to extrication basically the same way. Why is it that we can't digest corn? Well, I just had to find out. Turns out, all we see is the outer shell, which like most all plant matter is made of cellulose. Humans aren't very good at digesting cellulose for whatever reason (evolution, design, who knows?) At first, I was kind of excited thinking if the human digestive system couldn't break down corn, whatever it was made of would be great for studying for indestructible material but nonetheless it was fun learning why corn shows up in fecal matter. I wonder why other plant matter (vegetables) don't show up more clearly as well. Perhaps the topic of a future post