As both evolution and classic literature have taught us, everyone poops. And yet not everything about that experience is universal: European bathroom stalls have doors that reach all the way across, for example (revolutionary, we know); in Japan, toilets come with their own soundtrack; in America, the water level comes almost up to your butt for some reason. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

There’s a lot of variation in how we all use the potty, is the point – and one minorly confusing thing you may have been faced with, particularly if you’ve traveled to Europe or Asia or just a slightly unusual home in the US, is a toilet with two flush buttons. Why? For what purpose? Wh… what does the other button flush??

Well, fear

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