What bacteria are exchanged when two people kiss? That question is addressed in studies that are profiled in the special kissing issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. One of those studies was honored with an Ig Nobel Prize last year.
Tag: bacteria
Earthy, tasty probiotic recipes
Probiotic starter cultures come in many different flavors. Here are two that qualify as Not-off-the-shelf. 1. “Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages.” This study was honored with the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize for nutrition. 2. Vaginal bacteria as probiotic starter culture for yogurt. Janet Jay, […]
Sneeze catcher (new patent)
It’s a given that all manner of unwelcome microbial and viral particles can be exhaled by a person during a sneeze or a cough. Prompting inventor Joseph Apisa of Colts Neck, NJ, US, to create a ‘Sneeze catching method and apparatus’ It’s just received a US patent (Dec. 16, 2014). It can be, and indeed […]
Hospital study pushes the buttons of bacteria-phobes
Canadian elevator buttons just might hold the key to a return in popularity for the “anti-microbial” cleaning products industry. Recently, three doctors in Toronto wrote a little study about the bacteria they found on hospital elevator buttons. The great washed public, reading that report (or scary reports about that report — maybe scarier than the one you are reading right […]