Maginificent Figures

Urine Flow Rate by Body Size

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March 19th, 2021

Yang et al, 2014


Yang et al 2014

Today's Magnificent Figure comes from "Duration of urination does not change with body size:" an exquisitely named 2014 paper published in PNAS by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. If the paper's title didn't clue you in, the figure uses photographs of a urinating elephant, cow, goat, and extremely embarassed dog to illustrate that animals with a larger bladder volume exude a higher volume of urine per unit of urination time. The point of the paper? To prove that every animal pees for 21 seconds, no matter how big or small they are. Gotta love science.

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