For decades, Reg readers have demanded to know exactly how often humans let rip – and at last science may have produced an answer.

Rather than trusting volunteers to keep an honest diary of their daily emissions, [1]researchers at the University of Maryland built a sensor that clips onto underwear and listens for the chemical calling card of a fart: hydrogen gas produced when gut microbes ferment carbohydrates. In other words, the so-called "Smart Underwear" quietly keeps tabs on every toot.

The project's goal is more serious than the subject matter might suggest. Gastroenterologists have long struggled to objectively measure gas production. Most previous studies relied on patient diaries, lab tests, or short clinical observations – methods that tend to miss what happens in everyday life and almost certainly overlook overnight emissions.

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The wearable sensor aims to clear the air by tracking hydrogen levels throughout the day and night, producing a continuous record of intestinal activity.

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Early results from trials with healthy volunteers have already blown one of digestive science's most persistent figures clear out of the water, and possibly the room. Participants averaged roughly 32 gas-release events per day, with individual totals ranging from just four to as many as 59.

That's more than double the commonly cited estimate of around 14 daily expulsions, a figure that may have lingered for decades largely because nobody had a reliable way to measure it.

[5]

Self-reporting, it turns out, is a notoriously leaky dataset when it comes to logging one's own emissions.

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[7]Scientists show it's possible to solve problems in your dreams by playing the right sounds

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The project forms part of a larger research effort dubbed the "Human Flatus Atlas," an attempt to map what normal gas production actually looks like across different people, diets, and microbiomes. Volunteers in future studies will log their meals while the wearable quietly records the resulting intestinal after-effects.

Researchers are particularly interested in identifying different digestive profiles. Some individuals appear to be what scientists jokingly describe as "hydrogen hyper-producers," while others – even those consuming fiber-heavy diets that should ferment enthusiastically – seem to produce surprisingly little gas.

Beyond finally putting numbers behind one of humanity's most persistent bodily mysteries, the work could help doctors better understand gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerances, where excessive gas production is often a symptom but difficult to measure objectively.

If the numbers hold, humanity is producing considerably more background rumble than society prefers to acknowledge – and the long-running question of fart frequency might finally have hard data behind it rather than anecdotal wind. ®

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[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260314030516.htm

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2abk0U5TKKV2qP52a8gydOwAAAkI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44abk0U5TKKV2qP52a8gydOwAAAkI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33abk0U5TKKV2qP52a8gydOwAAAkI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44abk0U5TKKV2qP52a8gydOwAAAkI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/11/ig_nobel_prize_leaves_us/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/17/night_time_soundscapes_solve_problems/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/12/cern_lead_into_gold/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/01/nasa_space_waste_competition/

[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/