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A TEAM OF geneticists made headlines a few months ago after its mission to document all the bacteria on the New York City subway turned up nearly 600 different species of microbes crawling around on all those greasy rails.
They found some icky stuff, including the bacteria that give people food poisoning, and the bugs that can cause meningitis.
We’re sure the floor of the next Luas you hop on probably won’t be much better, but before opting for an taxi, keep this in mind: Almost all of the germs they found were completely harmless.
In fact, those creepy-crawlies might actually be good for people.
According to an idea called the hygiene hypothesis, exposure to germs and certain infections — especially at a young age — actually helps prime the immune system so it can defeat these microbes more easily in the future.
Some research has suggested that the idea could partially explain why children who grow up around animals and in rural areas appear to develop conditions like asthma less often than children who don’t. More studies, however, are necessary.
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And even for people other than young children, the hygiene hypothesis makes intuitive sense: After all, literally every surface in the world is covered in bacteria. The idea that things can be “perfectly clean” is a myth — humans need bacteria to live.
“We tend to think of our homes and personal environments as these pristine places, and public ones as dirty and infested with bacteria,” Chris Mason, a Weill Cornell Medical College geneticist and the author of the subway-pathogen study, recently said at a public event in New York:
But you should really think of yourself as a rabbit who gets to hop between two forests.
That’s why Mason isn’t afraid to let his own young daughter ride the subway or play in the dirt.
I would advise any new parent to roll their child on the floor of the New York subway.
Jonathan Brady / PA Archive/PA Images
Jonathan Brady / PA Archive/PA Images / PA Archive/PA Images
Like the surfaces people touch and the ground they walk on, the human body is already teeming with thousands of different species of bacteria, from the Lactobacillus acidophilus lining digestive tracts to the Propionibacterium acnes populating the skin on faces and arms.
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Watch as we slightly reword Government press releases on various subjects where the public are told to get back in our boxes and do what we’re told and then turn the comment section off, because we don’t don’t want any dissenting voices.
Watch as we shut down the comment section when too many comments go against the narrative.. Breaking News! “Ten People killed in overnight raids in Gaza” Yea shut down comments on that one, as we don’t want People giving out about Israel.. Journalists my ar_se
In the past few weeks statements made by government Minister’s, the comment section has been closed. The taking down of comments that contain no personal or unacceptable comment but would have been critical of government have been removed. Bit hypocritical of the Journal.
I didn’t ignore it no offence I forgot about it…also its not a priority to reply to every reply you make to me which is alot…
But I think it was about the 70 year old assaulted in clare? I don’t know the circumstances of the assault but I’m guessing your employing it was done by anti mass immigration protestors….do you have proof of this? But let’s say it’s true I have no idea….I abhor violence against anyone unless its done for defensive reasons….if this 70 year old man was attacked by one of the protestors….then I would condemned such an attack as that infringes on the right of the 70 year old not to be assaulted for no reason…
@William slevin: why willie and leave your mad raving influence others wrongly. Like your support for the protest in Clare….you know the one….I asked for your view of what happemed there on Sunday…and you ignored my question…..
Also you repeatedly ignore me asking you for proof of the false claim you keep making against me that I’ve incited hatred…well Where’s your proof…I want the comments and the articles where I supposedly incited hatred….
You haven’t so far because you can’t…because your a liar….
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