Your Own Personal Microbial Cloud

A recent study from Meadow et al at the University of Oregon looked at the individual microbiota that humans shed into their surrounding environment. They sequenced the airborne microbes that colonized a sterile chamber once each individual entered. They found that this left a microbially distinct and detectable signature, much like a fingerprint, after 1.5-4 hours. …

More than just a fingerprint-our microbes are efficient hotel “cleaners,” too!

Think hotel rooms are gross?  An elegant study led by Jack Gilbert, published Thursday in Science Reports, suggests that our resident microbes could help ease our minds on this issue, as they very quickly populate hotel rooms (and houses, more on that below) to make our hotels microbiologically identical to our homes within 24 hours. …