Researchers from the University of Waterloo published designs of new urinals could prevent up to 265,000 gallons of urine from spilling onto the floor each day. The authors lament the lack of invention in urinal designs over the last century. Around 1 million litres ( that is 264,172 gallons for americans) of urine are spilled onto the floor and walls of public washrooms (restrooms for americans) each day in the U.S. because of poor urinal shapes in current washrooms, creating hygiene issues and unpleasant odours. Aerosolized droplets can spread far, coating large areas of the floor and often the users themselves. (Thurairajah et al., 2025)
Design analysis and computer modelling was done on a variety of urinals including Marcel Duchamp’s celebrated La Fontaine and the ubiquitous contemporary urinal. Extensive computational fluid dynamics modelling gave two new models Cornucopia and Nautilus that fully contain the fluid irrespective of the angle of launch, user height, or fluid velocity.
Tens of thousands of toilets in airplanes should be replaced with these first.