ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Saturday’s football rivalry game between Michigan and Michigan State in Ann Arbor, Mich., comes with a side competition that has nothing to do with touchdowns: the two schools want to see whose fans can donate more urine for science.
The friendly contest, nicknamed the Piss-Off by organizers, runs from noon to 8 p.m. on Nov. 7. Two yurts, one for each school, will stand on the grounds of the Ann Arbor Golf and Outing course, and visitors pick the one that matches their loyalty. The yurts are fitted only with urinals.
Scientists on both campuses are working out a way to turn urine into a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Their effort dates to 2017, when Professor Nancy Love estimated that about 4% of what University of Michigan staff and students flush could replace the fertilizer the school buys.
The finished product is meant for lawns, grass and ornamental plants, not food crops. It will go to research plots at Michigan State’s Kellogg Biological Station in Ross Township and to two Ann Arbor sites run by the University of Michigan, the Nichols Arboretum and the Matthaei gardens.
Stephen Gasteyer, an associate professor of sociology at Michigan State, said the event aims both to gather material and to show people that the nutrients the body releases can help plants grow.
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