--- title: Here's the Vomiting Machine Scientists Use To Study Viruses description: Scientists have invented a machine that vomits on command to study norovirus, and how aerosol particles of the virus travel through the air canonical: https://time.com/4003121/vomiting-machine-norovirus/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-19T18:00:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:17:00.601Z article:section: Health og:title: This Machine Vomits On Command For Science og:description: Scientists have invented a machine that vomits on command to study norovirus, and how aerosol particles of the virus travel through the air og:url: https://time.com/4003121/vomiting-machine-norovirus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca0a32d4a48f6ff3/69886006cf40a865d7c3f4b8/vomiting-machine-face_grace-thompson.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3264 og:image:height: 1836 og:image:alt: vomiting machine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Machine Vomits On Command For Science twitter:description: Scientists have invented a machine that vomits on command to study norovirus, and how aerosol particles of the virus travel through the air twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca0a32d4a48f6ff3/69886006cf40a865d7c3f4b8/vomiting-machine-face_grace-thompson.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Machine Vomits On Command For Science > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=5ce3bc5e-ad2e-42b2-995e-f89f836b138b&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Should I Drink Green Juice? [Watch (HLS stream): Should I Drink Green Juice?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J0d2ag3D.m3u8) (1:36)  _Published 2015-04-23. Green juice can cost you $10 a bottle. But is it a trend worth buying into? All five of our experts gave green juice the go-ahead_  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 19, 2015 6:00 PM UTC  Courtesy of Grace Tung-Thompson  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 19, 2015 6:00 PM UTC In the experiment straight out of the dreams of an 8-year-old boy, but published in the journal _PLOS ONE,_ scientists have invented a [machine that vomits on command](//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGvqb87DXSI&feature=youtu.be). They’re using it learn more about norovirus, a highly contagious virus that often leads to vomiting. There are about 21 million cases of norovirus a year in the U.S.—a quarter of them linked to food—and it’s primarily spread through person-to-person transmission. How, exactly, was what researchers wanted to figure out. “We know the virus is shed in massive amounts in the fecal material of infected individuals—I mean like millions to billions of particles per gram,” says study author Lee-Ann Jaykus, professor of food science at North Carolina State University and scientific director of the USDA-NIFA Food Virology Collaborative (NoroCORE). Much less is known about how it can spread through virus particles in the air after a person vomits. “We have suspected aerosolization of virus in vomiting for probably 20 years, but we never provided any kind of laboratory based proof of it,” says Jaykus. **MORE**: [It Only Takes A Few Hours For Viruses To Spread Everywhere](http://time.com/3305272/viruses-spread-everywhere/) Recruiting students to vomit virus particles in a laboratory would likely have been a challenge. So Jaykus asked her environmental engineering colleague, Francis L. de los Reyes III, to design a machine that simulates human vomiting. What resulted was a scaled-down stomach system—plus a cute little face for fun—that spewed out vomit at a velocity, volume and viscosity that matched the real thing. (The chunky kind was represented by vanilla JELL-O pudding; the watery kind by artificial saliva. Both were doused with green food coloring.) Norovirus, too, had a stand-in. Researchers used another virus called the MS2 bacteriophage, which doesn’t hurt humans. After the machine threw up in an enclosed box, a biosampler attached to the box collected the particles so that the scientists could measure how much virus was present. “That’s what we counted as the fraction that was aerosolized,” says Jaykus. **MORE**: [Outbreak Of Norovirus Linked To A Popular Oregon Lake](http://time.com/3881612/norovirus-lakes/) About 0.02% of the virus in the vomit, at most, was aerosolized. That sounds like a safe number, until you consider that it equals roughly 13,000 particles—and people can get sick by being exposed to as few as 20 virus particles. “This paper allows us to be relatively certain that norovirus is aerosolized at least to some extent in vomiting,” Jaykus says. “Proving that is very important in understanding the transmission of the virus.” If you’re near the splash zone of a public vomiting incident, what do you do? Based on the results of this experiment, “the safest thing for you to do would be to walk away,” Jaykus says. “The further you get from the aerosol, probably the better off you are.” ## Transcript Green juice can cost you $ 10 a bottle, but is it a trend worth really buying into? Five out of five of our experts give green juice the go ahead. The store bought kind has about 36 % of your daily recommended potassium, 20 % of your daily vitamin A 12 grams of natural sugar and four grams of protein. If you juice your own glass you'll likely get even more vitamins. Barry Popkin says that veggie juice is really healthy for you and a lot better for you than fruity concoctions like smoothies. A big concern about juicing is that it gets rid of most of the fiber which lets sugar rush into your bloodstream faster. But Popkin says that because vegetables are so low in sugar, that's not a big issue. Lydia Pisano has researched green leafy vegetables. And finds that they're linked to a lower risk of developing diabetes. Green juice is fine as long as part of your overall well balanced diet. But don't go on an all green juice Cleanse. That's what we have our kidneys and livers for, says Kristi King. Mary Jo Kasten warns that you should be careful with green juice if you have a kidney. Foods like spinach are a rich source of oxalate, which can contribute to kidney stones, but for most people, juicing is just fine. Most of us, of course, aren't anywhere close to overdosing on vegetables. And only 10 % of what we do get down is dark green. It's better to eat your vegetables rather than drink them, says David Katz, but if green juice is what it takes to get your veggie fix, then bottoms up. 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