To test out norovirus transmission, researchers at North Carolina State University took an, erm, unique tactic. Rather than infecting human or animal patients with the common food contagion and seeing if the virus could be transmitted by human vomit, they created a machine that had a mini-stomach, esophagus, and face and let it rip.
Essentially, the puke bot was rigged up in a plexiglass box, and shot a green, norovirus filled slurry out the machine's mouth. Sensors inside the box detected traces of the virus, giving a headcount on how it might spread. The machine was even designed to retch a little after it finished expelling its "meal."
The results, published in PLOS ONE, confirmed it: the norovirus can be spread by becoming airborne through common upchuck. As Vox points out, the NCSU puke bot isn't the first of its kind. It seems that if it's a bodily function, there's a machine to simulate it, whether it's going #1, #2, or just having your food and drink come right back up from where it came in. The machine could pave the way for finding other methods of disease transmission without risking the health of human subjects.