Did you know that the most "microbial-ly" similar thing to your pillow is your toilet seat?
Well that's what microbiologists at the BioBE Center in Oregon have discovered! How you may ask? Well think about it; human bodies commonly touch both items, and the microbes that live on those human bodies land on both toilet seats and pillows! Furthermore, toilet microbes can also take a more direct route to your pillow--what do you think happens once you pull down your pajamas during a quick visit to the potty right before bed?
Well I'm glad you you brought it up! Depending on how low you lower your trousers, these little lifeforms will latch onto to your pants and enjoy the ride to your bed, where they will feast on the millions of dead skin cells and wash it down with your sweat.Oh, and trying to keep your PJs above ground won't do you any good. Millions of microbes float in the air, so either way, stuff's gonna get transferred!
Why am I bringing this up? Because you don't need to use antibacterial solutions every other second! Nature invented symbiotic relations, skin, and immune systems for a reason. Those bacteria that live on your skin must compete for resources to stay alive, so a lot of the dangerous bacteria are killed off by their benign (mutated) clones! When you use Germ-X, you not only kill bad germs, but also the good ones that normally kill bad germs. Additionally, your skin is a pretty good barrier against harmful agents, so treat it well (that mean's no choking your skin cells with band-aids when they need as much oxygen to seal a wound). Finally, your immune system, which should have plenty of experience dealing with bacteria if you played with/in mud as a kid, can kick most infections' ass. Ergo, don't turn it into a soft, hippy, useless waste of your body's energy by wiping everything with lysol--a wet towel and non-antibacterial soap will do!
TL;DR: Read the whole thing you lazy meat bag! I spent a lot of time and energy writing this, so read the entire thing.
Source: This is the Discover Magazine where I got a lot of my information from, but it's behind a paywall, so you might not be able to access it.
PS: This, the LYSOL® Healthy Touch® No-Touch Hand Soap System, is the most useless invention ever. The reason you use soap is to wash your hands! So what if the handle is germy? Your washing your hands. If you wash your hands properly, then the soap and water will remove most of whatever stuff is left on your hands--the rest your body can handle.
PPS: This does not mean I'm giving declaring open season on not being hygienic! Chefs, please continue washing your hands with normal soap before touching my food; Doctors and Surgeons, please continue washing your hands with antibacterial soap--I don't want an infection! Everyone else, please stop creating virulent strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria!
PPPS: Those floating microbes I was talking about earlier? Yeah they include everything from pollen, bacteria, viruses, particulates (like the burnt gasoline molecules spewed from cars), and food. In fact, that's how you smell things. Little detectors on your nose utilize quantum mechanics to distinguish between different things. Think about that the next time you use the bathroom--or don't!
PPPPS: I! really! like! the! exclamation! mark!
By the way, the quote in the BBC article is grammatically incorrect.
ReplyDelete"It's a very interesting idea; there's all sorts of interesting biological physics that implement quantum processes that's cropping up” (Jennifer Brookes of MIT)
First Brookes talks about a singular object (the interesting idea of biological processes utilizing QED), but then she describes it/them as plural objects "biological physics that *implement* (no "-s") quantum processes."
She should have said, A lot of interesting biological processes that utilize quantum mechanics are cropping up.
/end Grammar Nazi rant.