A bit of bad language could explain water's problems

摘要

Obituaries tend to celebrate lives well lived, telling us more about somebody we knew or knew about or a life discovered. In the case of Valerie Curtis, who died in November, I so wished we could have met. The fact that her life was so effectively lived without many on our side of the business knowing about it, is a reminder that our information silos narrow both outlooks and understanding. Professor Curtis was, in her own words, a 'disgustologist', somebody who studied the evolutionary imperative behind our feelings of disgust about such things as pus and putrescent food. Above all, the 'Queen of Hygiene' realised that the fact that we find faeces revolting could be a powerful tool in influencing public attitudes towards sanitation and handwashing.