Why These 'Cool Images' May Send You Scurrying For Disinfectant!
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At first glance, these pictures seem a little intriguing and even appear cool to some of you. However, that opinion may change once you realize that the images are not some kind of modern art but instead, those of actual bacteria that thrive upon the touchscreens of all smart phones.
The photos are a result of a classroom experiment recently conducted by the students of England's University of Surrey for their Practical and Biomedical Bacteriology unit. They began by lifting an imprint off their smartphone screens and transferring it to bacterial growth Petri dishes.
Within three days, the students were rewarded for their efforts with many different kinds of 'cool images' - All belonging to the different bacterium that were happily thriving on their respective cell phones. The good news is that most of them were like the genus Micrococcus, a harmless bacteria that is commonly found on human skin.
A few however, did have the Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria responsible for ailments like staph infections and food poisoning. But Dr. Simon, the professor that assigned the experiment, was not fazed by that either - That's because 20% of people are persistent carriers of this bacteria while over 60% carry it intermittently!
Another common thing found was bacteria from things the owners had recently touched. For example, one Petri dish featured a dense colony of Bacillus mycoldes - A bacteria that normally thrive in soil, which led the professor to rightfully conclude that the owner of the cellphone had recently been gardening or somehow come in contact with mud. Not surprisingly, touchscreen phones harbored more bacteria than ones with keypads - Time to revert to good old flip phones again?
Resources: Dailymail.co.uk, gizmag.com
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399 Comments
- Lukeover 12 yearsVery interesting article. I wish I knew what a Staphylococcus aureus is
- Ashley Davidover 12 yearsThis is very interesting and disturbing because there is more germs on a phone than a toilet. So, think on how many germs will be on a smartphone. It is good too know that the gems are not very harmful to us. If they were stores like Verizon, or sprint will have to give out a lot of refunds. Also these germs will still be here they were here even before we knew they existed. It says that one of the bacteria is found in food poisoning is this another way to get sick like this.
- HAILEY & ADRIELover 12 yearsIn this article I thought if this is every where I'm going to. Stop touching this I pad again how ever in a grade . I wonder if this is on I phones when you first get the phone. When you clean the phone would the bacteria still be on there. Would this be on any other phone?
- billyover 12 yearshi interesting!
- Macy,Megan,Kobeover 12 yearsThis article is very disturbing but interesting! It surprises us that some of this bacteria does not harm us but actually helps us. Our bodies are amazing and can fight against bacteria, germs, and sickness. Some how the bacteria on these electrical devises can not be seen by the human eye. If all this bacteria was to get larger and larger then would the bacteria cause a bigger sickness?
- zoe'over 12 yearscool...good to know? I gess
- Unicorns?...???over 12 yearsI Think it's interesting yet Kinda Disgusting. I knew bacteria was everywhere & everywhere we touch. i wonder how we could stop this disgusting madness but "THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW!!!" I don't think I would ever touch my I Phone ever again... Never mind i love my i phone. But just think if bacteria got really bad and everybody got sick and know one could stop this how would they do it, and prevent it from happening?
- Kenan T.over 12 yearsSome bacteria can cause diseases and even death. But this bacteria wort harm us at all some can even help us. For example there is bacteria in us helping our body not collapse. And there is a lot of bacteria around from 3 million years ago. It might be on your phone or even your shoes.
- rorodedetaytayover 12 yearsI had never known that there's a lot of bacteria on our electronics. Also, I personally think that it's cool how they did this experiment, but at the same time its really gross how bacteria is on everything. Another thing, is how this type of bacteria can affect us in the future. Finally I think us humans should wash our hand more,often and clean our items that we touch.
- Alexover 12 yearsThis article was interesting, but it didn't make me want to not touch the screen. We are in contact with germs EVERYWHERE! But, I will clean my screen!