Experiments

Asparagus Pee

Materials:

Asparagus

A toilet

Your nose

 

What to Do:

Cook the asparagus, or have your parents cook it, in whatever way you find tastiest. We recommend roasting it in the oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum. 

Eat the asparagus.

Sometime later in the day, you will probably have to pee. (This is normal.) Do you notice a funny smell when you pee?

Chemicals from digesting asparagus make some people's pee smell funny--but not everyone's. Scientists think the smelly pee is a dominant genetic trait: that means you only need one smelly-pee parent to have the smelly-pee gene yourself. (Though having a smelly-pee parent doesn't guarantee you'll have the smelly pee.) But wait, there's more! The ability to smell the smelly pee varies between people, too. So if you don't smell anything in your urine, you might have the gene for smelly pee, but not the gene for smelling the odor yourself.

 

More:

This would be a great subject for a genetic study of your whole family. We smell next year's science fair topic!



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EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! But cool too!

submitted by Samantha s., age 12, Reston VA
(September 24, 2009 - 6:45 am)

ew disgusting i hope i wont smell it.............

submitted by Muizza B., age 10, Boston MA
(December 16, 2009 - 8:40 pm)

I THINK IT'S PRETTY AWESOME! ALTHOUGH I HATE ASPARAGUS! GROSS!

submitted by Jack M, age 12, jackson, MI
(January 11, 2010 - 11:27 pm)

I actually like asparagus!

submitted by Cecilia S., age 12, Jackson, MI
(February 5, 2010 - 10:02 pm)

That is REALLY disgusting but still cool at the same time! 

submitted by Katherine H., age 10, Warsaw, PL
(April 9, 2010 - 8:05 am)

Ditto.

submitted by Clare G., age 12, Pittsburg, KS
(May 5, 2010 - 5:48 pm)

I only eat the stems of the asparagus. I like crunchy stuff.

submitted by Alexandre P., age 9, Seattle, WA
(May 9, 2010 - 12:41 pm)

Cool in a creepy way... you don't exactly go around telling people about asparagus pee, but I'll put it on my list of random things to tell people. Back to pie throwing.

submitted by Kitkat, age 10, Katy, Tx
(June 21, 2010 - 10:38 am)

Me too!!! Only healthy crunchy stuff, though.

submitted by Kitkat, age 10, Katy, Tx
(June 21, 2010 - 10:39 am)

YUCH! 

(real date: June 24,2010)

 

submitted by Owlgirl, age 10, Northford,CT
(June 24, 2010 - 1:37 pm)

does anybody here like asparagaus!

i do

sort of

submitted by THE OWL!!!, age 11, bozeman M.T.
(July 29, 2010 - 5:27 pm)

Yeah, crunchy stuff rox. My sister has a rabbit and it seems to agree.......so....many....carrots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

submitted by Audrey C., age 11, Hampton, NJ
(October 3, 2010 - 8:02 pm)

Ditto...actually, it depends how you cook it. ;)

submitted by Emily N., age 12, West Lafayette, IN
(November 11, 2010 - 2:17 pm)

I actually don't know what an aspara gus is. And yes I do live in Paris and speak both French and English *sigh* I miss CA but my dad is French.

 

submitted by Alex.T (I'm a girl !!!!!!!!!!), age 10, Paris,Ile-de-France
(November 13, 2010 - 12:41 pm)

does anybody even LIKE asparagus?!?!

 I do! --Ed. 

submitted by pickle, age 1 month, a jar
(December 7, 2010 - 7:39 pm)

Well gess what ?I love asparagus!

submitted by Rapture G , age 9, ABQ,NM
(February 17, 2011 - 7:52 pm)

YUMMY! AN EXCUSE TO EAT ASPARAGUS(overlooking the gross factor due to love of asparagus)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hi chelsea. guess wat? im on musemagkids.com! :P

submitted by Catherine S., age 13, Phoenix, AZ
(April 7, 2011 - 8:13 pm)

I think its cool but could you do somthing to know if your synisthec?

submitted by Ellen F, age 9 and a half, Pleasantville NY
(July 24, 2011 - 2:38 pm)

EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! In the experiment do I have to smell my pee??? NO THANK YOU!!!

submitted by Kennedy K., age 9 years old, Orange County, Florida
(August 5, 2011 - 4:00 pm)

Every time I eat asparagus before I swallow I puke it out so I have never ever swallowed aspargus.

submitted by Raen K., age 10, Murphys CA
(August 8, 2011 - 10:53 pm)

That is disgusting, but also somehat interesting.

submitted by Katie G.
(September 4, 2011 - 7:47 am)

I have two rabbits.  One Paisley and one Poppyseed.  Paisley is crazy with carrots.  Whenever I give her one, she zooms inside her cage and seems to tell me, "my carrot!"  It's really funny!  Strangely Poppyseed doesn't like carrots.  She goes crazy for grass though.  Since she only four months old she is not aloud to have grass, but sometimes I sneak a little grass in her cage!  Anyways, I like asparagus, but only with salt.  I am a crunchaholic also.  

submitted by wabbit, age 10, Canby, OR
(September 6, 2011 - 2:15 pm)

I love that comment!!! I have a dog that eats cat poop and it is really gross.

submitted by Muse, age 11, Bandera Tx 78003
(October 3, 2011 - 4:35 pm)

Yummy asparagus!!!

submitted by Meg M., age 11, Chicago, IL
(October 27, 2011 - 6:54 pm)

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Does this work with dogs?

submitted by purpletigerdragonXD, age 11 n 11 months, clayton,NC
(November 19, 2011 - 7:36 pm)

This experiment was awesome! my brother tried this once and his pee stunk! EEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!!! but still, it was pretty funny watching him carefully "jot down notes" in his bright purple, covered in lightening McQueen stickers, science notebook. i wonder if you would have the same results if threw an asparagus pie at a sibling? would their pee still stink? Hmm... sounds like another experiment to me!

submitted by Syd the awesome Muse reader, age 11, Leesburg, VA
(December 7, 2011 - 9:45 am)

asparagus is GOOD,crazy jack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

submitted by simone.r, age 10, new york,nyc
(December 17, 2011 - 4:00 pm)