5.06.2005
Five Second Rule Research Wins IgNobel Prize
Does the "five-second rule" exist?�
Apparantly not. Jillian Clarke recently won the IgNobel in Public Health for her research, which found:
1. Attempts at culturing bacteria from floor swabs showed that most of the floors in her school were clean enough to eat on
2. When she placed food on flooring tiles prepared with bacteria, the bacteria transferred in 5 seconds 100% of the time.
Clarke was a high school student when the research was conducted, and is the youngest ever recipient of the IgNobel.
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P.S. I have to rethink my eating-at-my-desk habits after finding this factoid: Chuck Gerba, microbiology professor at University of Arizona, sampled 7000 desks and found an average of 25,000 bacteria per square inch. (Just for comparison, he swabbed a few toilet seats and found 50 bacteria per square inch.) Ewww!
Apparantly not. Jillian Clarke recently won the IgNobel in Public Health for her research, which found:
1. Attempts at culturing bacteria from floor swabs showed that most of the floors in her school were clean enough to eat on
2. When she placed food on flooring tiles prepared with bacteria, the bacteria transferred in 5 seconds 100% of the time.
Clarke was a high school student when the research was conducted, and is the youngest ever recipient of the IgNobel.
----
P.S. I have to rethink my eating-at-my-desk habits after finding this factoid: Chuck Gerba, microbiology professor at University of Arizona, sampled 7000 desks and found an average of 25,000 bacteria per square inch. (Just for comparison, he swabbed a few toilet seats and found 50 bacteria per square inch.) Ewww!
