Original subtitles

- [Narrator] For many, it's the most important room

in the house where we spend over two years of our lives

with 200 million showers and one billion flushes

across the US every single day.

- [Man] The bathroom is becoming a place of retreat,

a place to relax and rejuvenate.

- [Narrator] Americans shell out over

30 billion dollars a year

building the ultimate throne room,

lavishing it with every creature comfort imaginable.

- [Man] It's a fully personalizable

digital delivery system

of water, lights, sound and audio in the showers.

- [Narrator] You'll never do your business

the same way again

on Modern Marvels.

- [Man] You haven't seen anything yet.

(lively music)

(lively music)

- [Narrator] The glitz and glam of Las Vegas,

where dreams can come true

or more than likely go down the drain.

Well most of us will have to settle for

a standard hotel room here,

a few high rollers with hefty lines of credit

might snag an invitation to one of

these exclusive Wynn Resort Fairway Villa suites

with equally exclusive bathroom facilities.

- We're in one of the Fairway Villa's

suite bathroom accommodations,

and we've tried to anticipate every comfort.

- [Narrator] Each one-bedroom villa suite features

a powder room as well as two adjoining master bathrooms.

- These are his and hers bathrooms.

There's one with considerations for the lady

and one with specific considerations

for the gentleman.

In the men's room, we have an enormous steam shower.

The shower is lined in brown fantasy marble,

which we import from China

and features a rain-down massage shower head,

full steam capabilities,

and a heated mirror for shaving that will not fog.

A very large lav with a counter that is large enough

to handle all of the toiletries

that any gentleman might bring.

Everything in the men's area also has been raised a bit.

- [Narrator] And of course, there's a flat screen TV.

The lady's room is just as posh.

- This particular room has a floor of spider marble,

which we import from Greece.

The countertops are Arco Iris Onix that I fly to Italy

so that I can hand-select each slab.

- [Narrator] There's also an overflow tub

with built-in LEDs to help wash away those Sin City sins.

And of course, no high-end bathroom is complete

without a private glass-encased bidet and toilet area.

But regardless of how glitzy or plain your toilet is,

we're only indebted to the common commode.

This modern marvel changed the world

by effectively and efficiently eliminating the waste

most people don't want to think about.

At American Standard, located in the aptly named

Piscataway, New Jersey,

these potty people have put a great deal of thought

to making some of the best toilets on the market.

For those who like one that's unstoppable,

meet the king of thrones, the Champion Four toilet.

American Standard makes the bold claim that

this Titanic of toilets is virtually uncloggable.

We put it to the test

to see what goes down with the ship.

- Some of the things that go into toilets

that really shouldn't, are toys and cell phones.

Up to seven million cell phones a year

are dropped in the toilet.

So we do consider those things when we're designing.

But these are not things that belong in your toilet.

Another industry test is called the dye exchange test

for the removal of liquid waste.

- [Narrator] So far it passes the test.

And then there is this little experiment

using a stand-in for something

that's no stranger to being flushed.

- Another industry test is to take miso,

which is soy paste and put it in a latex container.

This container holds 50 grams of miso.

Studies show that humans can eliminate

up to 350 grams of solid waste.

So I have 500 grams here in my hand,

and we test toilets like the Champion Four

up to a thousand grams.

So let's put them in the toilet and flush.

- [Narrator] Why does the Champion Four prevail

where some other toilets can fail?

- This is probably the flush valve in the toilet

that you have now.

It's roughly two inches in diameter.

A high-performance toilet may have a flush valve

that's three inches in diameter

and the Champion Four has this four-inch diameter

accelerator flush valve.

You can see it's very large.

It allows the water to leave the tank at a very rapid rate.

The other difference with the Champion Four

is that the trapway is 2.38 inches in diameter,

which is the largest that you can purchase.

- [Narrator] Most toilets have just a two-inch trapway.

That extra 0.38 of an inch can make

all the difference between a royal flush

and a flushing failure.

When you trip the lever,

1.6 gallons of water exit through the piston-action

flush valve in under a second.

The rest of the sequence is generally similar

with all toilets.

Some of the water travels through

the rim and into the bowl.

The remaining water goes down a channel

and into the trapway.

A siphon effect combined with gravity

pulls everything down the drain.

Thanks to a set of water usage regulations

passed by the Environmental Protection Agency,

The Champion Four and all other newly manufactured toilets

have only 1.6 gallons per flush with which to work.

But enterprising engineers,

including those at American Standard

thought they could do better.

This FloWise toilet, known as an HET, does its job

while surpassing government regulations.

- The flow wise flushes on 20% less water.

And that's 1.28 gallons per flush.

- It's important because the toilet is one of

the largest consumers of water in a person's household.

- [Narrator] The FloWise owes part of its success

to the unique shape and height of its tank and bowl,

which allow it to flush on less water.

The rest is fluid dynamics and good old gravity.

- You can see on the screen is the FloWise bowl.

If the shape comes out wrong, we lose the performance.

It's actually a very small margin of error.

With a cutaway, we can see all the components together

that give us maximum performance.

- [Narrator] American Standard's engineers aren't

just toiling to improve the inner workings

of the humble toilet.

The exterior gets some attention, too.

- While the toilet looks basically the same

over the last 100 years.

From an ergonomic standpoint, they have changed

In recent history, the toilets have gotten taller,

and this is really driven by aging of boomers.

Boomers do not want to admit they're getting older

and I'm a boomer myself.

And so by raising up the height of the toilet,

it's easier to get on and off.

One of the issues with the developments of toilets

is that we, as a population, are growing larger.

Weight is an issue within our population.

So we work to make sure

we engineer our toilets to take a heavier load.

A number of companies have developed

physically larger toilets to deal with larger-sized people.

- [Narrator] Once the design is approved,

American Standard's version of the porcelain god

gets a rigorous workout before going into production.

These toilet seat will be battered with 200 pounds of

pneumatic force over 10,000 times.

And these toilets will be flushed about 10,000 times

per week for 25 weeks.

When it comes to the modern bathroom,

advances in technology have given the toilet

some impressive upgrades,

but it's not alone.

After you've flushed the next stop is the sink.

- The modern sink has changed civilization

because it allows people to wash their hands every time,

multiple times during the day,

without having to bother with disposing the water,

which has inhibited the spread of germs and sicknesses,

allows people perfect hygiene

by being able to brush their teeth more often.

It's a very simple thing,

but do without your sink for a while and see where you are.

- [Narrator] At the Kohler company in Kohler, Wisconsin,

man-machine join forces to produce

the simple yet indispensable sink.

Here your sink starts off as a pile of manhole covers,

car parts, dumbbells and other scrap iron.

A powerful magnet carries the scrap to a furnace

heated to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Workers slag off the impurities in preparation

for the big pour.

Meanwhile, the sink molds made from sand

mixed with water and chemical binders

wait on the other side of the factory.

- During the molding process,

you actually have two halves of a mold.

When we put them together,

there's about a quarter of an inch in between,

and that's what seals with the iron.

- [Narrator] The melt is brought over by forklift

and poured into the molds.

It takes just a minute for the molten metal to solidify,

and another couple of hours for the sinks to cool

enough to be sent for grinding and cleaning.

- We're doing that robotically.

Then it's going and actually

clearing out the drain hole and the supply hole.

Once that's completed, sets it back off on the conveyor

over here, where it comes to the grinder

who will manually remove the remaining clashing

and any high iron on the piece

prior to getting it ready for enameling.

- [Narrator] Sprayers apply a coat of pink slurry

that will act as a primer to help the enamel

adhere to the iron.

Then it's into the oven for eight minutes.

- Now the casting has been reheated

up to approximately 1700 degrees.

You're gonna take it out of the furnace

and then bring it over here and place it

in the enameling frame

where they'll apply the first coat of enamel glass

that's in a powder format.

It's important to get as much on as quick as you can

when the casting's the hottest.

So they'll complete this first coat right now.

And then it goes back into the furnace

where they'll melt that in.

- [Narrator] One more cycle and this sink is ready to go.

But that's just part of the equation.

The obligatory faucet begins life in another foundry,

just down the street.

Only here, they're melting brass at 1800 degrees.

A forklift carries the molten metal to the casting area

where it'll start to take shape inside a metal mold

with a sand core.

- At this point, he is putting the sand core into the dye.

Now he's getting his liquid metal and he is gonna pour it.

He steps on the pedal.

The dye rotates, the metal flows into the dye with gravity.

Right now it is solidifying,

takes about 20 seconds to solidify.

At that point, he takes it out,

puts it in a cart to cool, and then it'll look like this.

- [Narrator] Then the faucet is machined,

polished and prepped for plating.

In the plating area, this giant dipping rig

filled with various acids, cleaning agents

and chemical compounds,

ensures your faucet's metalwork doesn't become

a pile of rust from oxidation

and corrosive hard water deposits.

The entire plating operation lending the faucets

their protective layers, takes about 90 minutes.

Then Kohler has to make them look nice.

This happens in the PVD room

where metallurgy meets chemistry.

- In physical vapor deposition

over the top of the chrome layer,

we put a, usually it's chromium nitride,

titanium nitride coating over the top

to give us the different colors that Kohler sells.

- [Narrator] The pieces are preheated

and then placed inside this vacuum chamber for 90 minutes

where they'll be bombarded with metallic ions

with the help of turbo-molecular pumps.

This electronic coating process will determine

the faucet's finish.

Everything from vibrant brush bronze, to polished chrome,

to brushed nickel.

Then the faucets are off to this area

where spouts and handles of all imaginable designs

are assembled, tested, and packaged.

- In today's marketplace,

there's lots of different types of faucets.

For the bathroom, you have a separate hot and cold,

and you can control both on individually.

You also have the single-lever faucet,

which is easy to use, great for children and people

that have arthritis.

Going back to the old days are the bridge faucets.

And what that means is that there's one portion

of the faucet that goes in between

that connects the hot and cold above the counter

as opposed to below.

- [Narrator] Aesthetic aside, the technology of sink faucets

is still predominantly based on simple mechanics.

These days, shopping for a new shower

can be a little like shopping for a car.

This model developed by the Kohler Company

comes fully loaded.

- It's a fully personalizable digital delivery system

of water, lights, sound and audio in the shower.

It also incorporates water delivery with a digital valve.

- [Narrator] In conjunction with a user interface,

the digital valve assembly precisely

controls and maintains water temperature.

No more waiting for your shower to heat up

and then having it go cold.

The valve also regulates water delivery and massage.

There's also a steam function.

- Steam showers originally were used as a therapy.

Today, there are luxury that are used

in some of the finer homes.

They're electric.

Water falls down on a hot coil or stainless steel plate

the steam is created.

- [Narrator] The shower also has a little something

for the other senses.

- What you see behind me is the ambient rain panel,

which is a 21-inch LED-lit panel,

and also incorporates audio

through our waterproof speakers.

- [Narrator] It's like having a private disco in your shower

and there's more.

- Or maybe the coolest feature is a different effects

that we have.

Let's say, you've always wanted a skylight in your bathroom.

you can pick our sunny clouds feature

and actually have moving clouds in your ceiling.

- [Narrator] Mix and match the options

to reflect or enhance your mood.

The shower's entire symphony of functions is conducted

by the remote user interface

that can save and instantly recall personal settings.

The whole shebang, hydrotherapy, promo therapy,

and the rest will probably run you somewhere

in the area of $10,000.

But it still might be cheaper

than a future of actual therapy.

- I think the future that home shower is basically

personalizing your shower.

What you see here is personalization

on a pretty big level.

- [Narrator] Of course to know where the shower is going,

it helps to know where it's been.

- It's documented in vases and murals,

places that we see drawings of ancient Greeks that showered.

They showered not for hygiene.

They believe it energized them and gave them power.

- [Narrator] Cold water flowed via terracotta pipes,

and over the bathers through shower ends

shaped like animal faces.

The ancient Romans and many generations thereafter

preferred their baths to showering.

Rudimentary shower contraptions began to resurface

in the early 1800s,

like this one called the American Virginia stool shower.

The bather placed the wood machine inside a bathtub

and operated a hand pump to bring water up a hose

and out over his head.

A foot pedal maneuvered and attached scrub brush up and down

as needed.

For decades the shower remained a novelty.

Only when indoor plumbing became more commonplace

in the mid-to-late 19th century,

could showers become practical.

Still well into the 20th century, most Americans bathed

in tubs, but only about once a week.

During the post-World War II track housing boom,

builders incorporated showers into most bathrooms,

making it easier for people to begin a transition

to a more frequent washing routine.

- The major shift between the bathtub and the shower

came in the 1970s.

It came about because people were in a larger hurry,

wanted to get ready quicker and were more interested

in cleanliness.

- [Narrator] To accommodate new larger conveniences

like standalone showers,

today's average master bathroom has roughly doubled in size

since the 1950s.

Let's make the price tag aside,

a luxury shower can carry another cost

if you're not careful.

- Large rain-head or multiple side sprays can use on average

between 10 and 20 gallons of water for a minute.

- [Narrator] Most of us still have one of these,

a standard shower head.

Shower heads produced prior to the EPA Act of 1992

delivered about five gallons of water per minute.

Today the standard shower head delivers half of that

at 2.5 gallons per minute.

But which uses more water, bathing in a tub

or showering with a standard shower head?

- A shower head that uses two and a half gallons of minute

will use 25 gallons over a 10-minute period

where the average tub holds about 50 gallons of water.

So a 10-minute shower would use roughly half as much water

as a bathing in the tub.

- [Narrator] American Standard has put a new spin

on low flow, with a FloWise version of the shower head.

The flow wise uses just one and a half gallons per minute,

but the bather is none the wiser and none the dirtier.

A conventional 2.5-gallons-per-minute

shower head does little

more than deliver a metered amount

of pressurized water through small holes.

The FloWise shower head incorporates a small turbine

located in the center.

The pressurized water makes its spin.

The turbine breaks up the droplets

while infusing them with air as they're pushed out.

The air makes less water seem like the same amount.

- So that a gallon a half a minute,

you get a nice forceful shower.

- [Narrator] As a compromise, American Standard

is also incorporated an element of personal choice.

- If you're taking a shower and you're all soaped up,

have shampoo in your hair and you want to rinse,

you just convert the shower to a maximum of

two gallons a minute.

It's a combination of the turbine

and an outer spray pattern.

And this way you get a good satisfying rinse.

The great thing about FloWise is when you turn it off,

it automatically resets itself to a gallon and a half.

This way you're always conserving water,

and you have to choose to use more.

- [Narrator] Before the FloWise

and their other products

reach your bathroom, American Standards design team

puts them through demanding lifecycle tests.

- This is our FloWise shower head.

And what we're doing right now

on this reliability test here

is making sure that the two different settings

work properly over time.

This reliability test rig runs 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

- We start the cycle going and computers run all of this.

And at the end of the day, and over the weekend,

we turn off the lights and go home.

But the test continues so that we can get the maximum length

of test in the shortest amount of time.

- [Narrator] We know what you're thinking

and know they're not being hypocrites.

- The water that it uses goes through the fitting

goes into our collection pipes,

goes through these pipes back into our treatment area

where it's reprocessed, re-chilled and re-pressurized

so that we can use it again.

In this way, our impact, as far as water usages,

is relatively little.

You're wet, but what's going to get all that dirt off?

Let's ask her.

She looks pretty clean.

Meet Keridwyn Hershberger, a fourth generation soap maker,

catering to those who appreciate craft and tradition.

- Soap is a basic cleansing agent

that can act as a bridge between oil and dirt and water.

- [Narrator] Soap essentially acts as an emulsifier

or something that facilitates the blending of substances

that don't normally mix.

Oil and dirt on the skin won't combine with water.

The emulsifying soap helps disperse water into the oil

while detaching it from the surface.

The oil and dirt are suspended and diluted

so they can be washed away.

Keridwyn makes soap the old fashioned way

like they did from the 14th to mid-19th century

by hand in a cauldron.

- The most basic components of soap making are

some form of grease or fat and lye.

Lye can now be synthetically produced,

or it can be dripped from various types of wood ashes

or seaweed ashes.

- [Narrator] Some experts attribute

a great historical significance to the humble soap recipe.

- When soap making became more popular in the 1300s,

midwives began washing their hands.

And with midwives washing their hands,

it led to a decrease in infant mortality rate.

So there's certain schools of thought

amongst anthropologists that

actually soap making helped bring about the renaissance

by increasing the middle class.

- [Narrator] Keridwyn kicks off the soap making process

by chopping and melting the rich fat

taken from the kidney region of a steer.

- I am rendering down the beef tallow.

So I'll have a pure fat as opposed to

a fat with a lot of connective tissue, meat, blood,

things like that.

- [Narrator] In the cauldron, she combines the tallow

with pork lard.

Once the fat is melted,

she adds in the other active ingredient,

alkaline.

- I have a 50% sodium hydroxide or lye water solution,

and I'll be adding the lye water to the fats.

The fats are at this point at about 100 degrees.

- [Narrator] Too much lye can be a bad thing.

- Alkaline is caustic

that can cause minor burns to the skin,

nothing spectacular like we saw in fight club,

but it will cause a minor burn.

- [Narrator] And then she stirs and stirs.

- This is actually activating this saponification

during which the fatty acids and the oils

and the caustic begin to transform into soap.

It'll actually start to take on the look of

a thick cream gravy or a hot cooked pudding.

- [Narrator] To test the lye level

in a batch of soap brew,

Keridwyn employs a most sophisticated method.

- One of the most traditional methods is to taste it.

I'm really not kidding.

I get a little bit on my finger.

And that is almost ready.

- [Narrator] When the batch is fully cooked,

she scoops the batter into a shallow mold

where it'll cool and harden into an alternative

to mass-produced soaps.

- A lot of what sets my soaps apart is what I don't use.

I don't use a lot of the more modern synthetic ingredients

because I simply don't feel like they're necessary

to make a good soap.

And I really don't feel like they're necessary

to put on one's skin.

- [Narrator] Mass produced or handmade,

soap is just the first line of defense

against smelling offensive.

But for some, BO is a formidable foe.

Body odor is primarily generated in the armpits

by a concentration of sweat glands.

Moisture secreted by these glands is initially odorless,

but the natural lipids or fats it contains

provide a growth medium for bacteria.

These bacteria interact with the lipids,

converting them into compounds like isovaleric acid

that give sweat that characteristic smell.

- For centuries, people wanted some way

to control body odor.

They used different types of perfumes, colognes

before the bath became commonplace.

But around 1888, the first trademark deodorant came out.

- [Narrator] Some of the early products masked bad smells,

but caused irritation.

Fortunately for modern noses, these products have evolved.

So even those with the most sensitive skin

can protect themselves.

But which to choose, deodorant or antiperspirant?

- Deodorants mask odor and kill bacteria,

but do not reduce wetness.

Antiperspirants reduce wetness

through inhibiting the production of sweat.

- [Narrator] The technology controls odor three ways.

- One, the active ingredient eliminates

odor-causing bacteria.

Two, the fragrance masks the odor.

Three, the reduction in moisture reduces

the amount of bacteria that's able to grow.

- [Narrator] Once antiperspirant is applied,

the active ingredient, an aluminum compound reacts with

moisture on the skin and becomes gelatinous.

The solution plugs the pores, inhibiting sweat secretion.

Regardless of which type of product

you use to keep you inoffensive,

there's a good chance it came from Unilever

in Raeford, North Carolina,

makers of Degree and other personal care products.

- This is where our liquid unloading takes place

at the Raeford factory, for the antiperspirant production.

We unload our emollients in liquid form

from bulk tank trucks into these bulk tanks.

They're about 100,000-pound tanks,

and it can be pumped at two tons per minute

directly into our compounding department.

- [Narrator] State-of-the-art mixing equipment

combines prescribed amounts of liquid ingredients,

fragrance and aluminum compounds,

heated to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.

Conveyors carry empty canisters ready to be filled with

a hot antiperspirant product.

- We actually have to turn this canister upside down.

The way you buy it, it'll be like this.

The way we fill it, it's actually like this.

Now, when you look inside the container,

you see there's a seal that not only preserves the product,

it gives us the ability to fill from the bottom

of the container that gives us that nice dome shape on it.

So it's very comfortable when you apply it to your armpit.

We then use a piston displacement filler

and push the product into the canister.

It leaves this filler and heads to a chilling tunnel.

We cool to about 25 degrees Celsius.

That's actually to stabilize the product.

So it doesn't separate and all the ingredients stay

very homogeneous throughout.

So the canister is plugged with the coated plug

and then it enters the labeler.

We label first the back of the canister

and then rotate it 180 degrees and label the front.

The canister's inspected on both sides by a camera system

to make sure the label's in the proper position

if it's not , we reject it on the far side.

- [Narrator] Then the quick stop at the lab

for quality assurance.

- This is where all the finished products come in

and get tested before they're released to the Walmarts,

to the Targets of the world.

We measure the active ingredient concentration in here.

We also check for the fragrance,

make sure it smells as it's supposed to.

- [Narrator] The stuff that makes the grade

is then packaged, palletized, wrapped and shipped.

Now you're squeaky clean enough to rule the world.

But if you forgot to go before you left the castle,

we've got the answer.

Coming up, you don't have to ru Each year, almost nine million residents,

66 million tourists and countless commuters

ram into New York City.

The area boasts more than 25,000 eateries,

numerous hotels, theaters and museums.

Yet this metropolis has somehow managed

to get the notorious reputation is having nowhere to go.

- Public toilets have a great need in New York City

because of the tremendous amount of people and pedestrians

that use the city at all times.

It's almost sometimes impossible to find a restaurant or

other facility to use during the course of your day.

- [Narrator] New York city has only about

1200 public rest rooms.

That's nothing compared to some other major cities

like Singapore, which has less than half the population,

but nearly 30,000 public rest rooms.

How are officials finally addressing the eternal challenge

of going on the go?

One solution the City of New York has tried

is the APT, for Automatic Pay Toilet.

This six-by-11 foot pay potty pod sits inconspicuously

in Madison Square Park.

For the low, low price of 25 cents,

the user gets a generous 15 minutes

inside the tempered glass and stainless steel unit.

- Depositing a quarter in the APT

activates an electrical signal to the door,

which is opened by reserve of air compression.

There's a tank inside the unit that has compressed air

and that activates a pneumatic system that opens the door.

- [Narrator] Once you're in, you'll see the usual

bathroom accoutrements plus some extras.

- The features of the APT are the obvious features,

including the commode, toilet paper,

the basin, the various, the soap

and rinse water dispensers, a hand dryer,

but there's also comfort features like nonslip flooring,

a skylight, halogen lighting,

as well as heating and air conditioning

for the winters and the summers as well.

- [Narrator] Since it's unattended,

the chamber incorporates some innovative safety features.

- There's battery backup system.

Should there be a power failure,

the door will automatically open.

The emergency buttons in the APT are connected

to a sophisticated communication system.

And these buttons actually, when pressed,

send a text message to two or more people,

and also it activates a two-way communication system.

- [Staff] Good afternoon, can I help you?

- Should this person fall on the floor,

they're located where they best can reach them.

- [Narrator] Weight load sensors located under the floor

serve a dual purpose.

- This to detect an occupant,

but also to make sure that occupant falls

within certain weight thresholds,

above 88 pounds and below 551 pounds.

The lower threshold is intended to protect children

to make sure they're accompanied,

while the upper limit is to make sure that

a handicap person and their assistant can enter the unit,

but not excessive numbers of people at the same time.

- [Narrator] Unfortunately for you slow movers,

there's the dreaded time limit.

A warning alarm signals when three minutes remain

and when time's up ready or not,

the door slides open.

Between users, the APT jumps into action

with an automated 90-second self-cleaning process

that happens behind closed doors.

The automatic pay toilet finds its roots

with the ancient Roman public latrines,

a trench with running water below the stone benches

carried away waste.

And the enterprising Roman Emperor Vespasian

who charged a fee for these latrines,

carried away lots of cash.

After the fall of the empire and its comforts,

relieving oneself happened

whenever, wherever nature called.

In 17th-century France,

the nobility at the palace of Versailles,

which was built without bathrooms,

did their business on the lawn,

and perhaps even in the stairwells.

Sanitation and decency were of little concern.

The Sun King himself was known to go

while riding in his coach with female passengers present.

Today when going on the go, the greatest concern

is picking up germs in what is potentially

one of the least sanitary environments.

- Hygiene is important and especially in today's world

where people are exposed to so many other human beings

all the time.

- Imagine walking into a public restroom

and not actually having to touch anything.

Perfecting touch-free public bathroom technology

is big business.

Companies like Sloan and Kimberly Clark manufacture

motion-sensor-activated dispensers of

bathroom necessities, such as soap and paper towels.

Sensors on toilets and faucets detect a user's presence

or absence and operate accordingly.

But in most bathrooms,

there's still the matter of having to touch paper towels

or the traditional hot air dryer.

The Dyson Airblade, a touch-free hand dryer claims

to reduce bacteria and use less energy,

drying in 10-12 seconds as opposed to the 22-40 seconds

in most other dryers.

It employs the Dyson digital motor that spins faster

than a Formula One race car engine

and produces enough air pressure to dry hands

without the need for heat.

An infrared sensor activates the dryer

only when the hands are inserted.

So there's no wasted energy after you walk away.

In the bathroom of the future,

human necessity meets science fiction.

Japanese bathroom manufacturer Toto

has become the undisputed leader in high-tech toilets

by combining form and function

while taking personal hygiene to a whole new level.

Unlike common toilets, Toto's futuristic looking

Neorest model is tankless, rimless,

fully automated and environmentally sound,

And it offers a less hands-on approach.

- [Narrator] The semi-gloss finish on Toto's toilets

and sinks is super smooth at the nano level,

illuminating crevices where bacteria can accumulate.

- [Narrator] Toto's other uber-modern products

include digitally controlled air jet bathtub

that fills itself to your preset temperature

and depth setting.

And if you're lonely, it'll even talk to you.

- [Bathtub] Hello, showing the bath.

- [Narrator] How about some running water sounds

or music to mask embarrassing noises

emanating from the bathroom?

No need to waste water on the sound of courtesy flush.

In fact, bathroom manufacturers and scientists believe that

toilets could actually help with medical diagnosis.

Here's how they might work.

A wand with a small cup attached

extends from the toilet's rim

to collect a sample of urine.

The sample travels to a sensor for analysis.

The test results are transmitted

via the home's wireless network to the user's computer.

- [Narrator] What other tech might we find

in the bathroom of tomorrow?

Jacuzzi manufactures a towel warming cabinet

that heats up to 120 degrees.

For those who need to check their messages,

the news or weather while primping,

there is a mirror from Samsung that doubles as a TV monitor.

The gadgets aside, the current bathroom trends

lean toward indulgence and awareness.

- Some of the challenges the designers are facing today

when they are designing these products

is to constantly come up with cutting-edge new designs

that work and deliver tremendous relaxation

as people expect,

and still be environmentally responsible.

It's important that in all the things

that are designed for the bathrooms now

that we watch how much water we use,

and people are consciously aware of it and care about that.

- The bathroom is becoming a place of retreat,

place to relax and rejuvenate.

And there's really two trends that are causing that.

One is nesting.

That's where more and more people are staying home,

spending their, you know,

time and energy and resources on those spaces

and the products that go into those spaces.

And the number of spa visits are growing every year.

And people want to create that,

that spa-like atmosphere and get those products

into their home.

- [Narrator] And these tricked out bathrooms

might just be scratching the bacteria-repelling surface.

- Coming back from the kitchen and bath show,

seeing all the products that are available,

we probably haven't seen anything yet.

- [Narrator] Whether you prefer high-tech, low-flow,

or the lap of luxury,

scientists, designers and engineers will keep finding

new ways to keep you comfortable and happy.

And it just may change the way you answer, when nature calls.

- [Bathtub] Goodbye.