Puke Test Dummy

Since gastrointestinal noroviruses are so infectious and can be fatal in countries with marginal hygiene, scientists at the U.K. government’s Health & Safety Lab in Derbyshire needed to study the “reach and dispersion” of human “vomitus,” especially its aerosolizing. Working with nauseated patients would be impractical; so researcher Catherine Makison created “Vomiting Larry,” a puke-hurling robot with a range of almost 10 feet. According to a University of Cambridge researcher, one can be infected by fewer than 20 norovirus particles, each droplet of puke can contain 2 million particles, and the virus is active on hard surfaces for 12 hours.