How Waterloo Scientists Designed and Tested a Splash‑Free Urinal

A team from the University of Waterloo, led by PhD student Kaveeshan Thurairajah and his supervisor, fluid‑physicist Zhao Pan, won the 2026 Ig Nobel Physics Prize for their theoretical and experimental attempts to design a splash‑free urinal.

To start, they consulted published lists of typical male urine flow rates. Using these numbers, they built an anatomically accurate “pee machine” that reproduces the speed and volume of a real stream.

The pee machine allowed the researchers to evaluate several prototype shapes. Two designs received most attention: the low, slender model called “Nautilus” and the high, angular model called “Cornocopia”.

During testing, they measured how much liquid splashed and how easy each model was to clean. Thurairajah explained that Nautilus not only reduced splash but also proved significantly easier to clean than the Cornocopia design.

Because using actual urine would be unhygienic and inconsistent, the team relied on the machine to keep the flow rate constant across all trials, ensuring fair comparisons.

The results were published last year in the journal PNAS Nexus, with the researchers noting that splash‑free urinals could make public bathrooms more inviting.

At the Ig Nobel ceremony in Zurich, the Waterloo scientists arrived in bright yellow raincoats before accepting their prize.

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