Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: BenV on 03/05/2007 16:57:10

Title: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: BenV on 03/05/2007 16:57:10: You can find out which is which by listening to this episode of the Naked Scientists podcast about bacteria and infection (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-scientists/germs-fungi-and-viruses-microscopic-world).

Plate 1.jpg (9.02 kB . 189x177 - viewed 9783 times)

Plate 2.jpg (5.51 kB . 189x166 - viewed 9588 times)
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Seany on 04/05/2007 23:08:37: I voted plate 1. Everyone knows it is basically, because there were lots of adverts that there were tons more bacteria in the kitchen than on a baby's dish thing or a toilet seat!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: rosy on 05/05/2007 13:28:58: Dunno... but it's going to depend on where in the kithen the swab came from and how recently the toilet was flushed- concentration of bacteria will go down when the toilet is flushed but they'll probably breed up pretty quickly.

Also, not relevant to the numbers issue, the nastiness of bacteria is pretty variable... I would probably not be too worried about most of the bacteria where someone had just spilt the yoghurt, whereas the ones where the chicken for dinner had been might well be pretty nasty.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Seany on 05/05/2007 13:36:10: Quote from: rosy on 05/05/2007 13:28:58
Dunno... but it's going to depend on where in the kithen the swab came from and how recently the toilet was flushed- concentration of bacteria will go down when the toilet is flushed but they'll probably breed up pretty quickly.

It's the seat of the toilet, not the inner bit!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: another_someone on 05/05/2007 14:55:33: Quote from: Seany on 04/05/2007 23:08:37
I voted plate 1. Everyone knows it is basically, because there were lots of adverts that there were tons more bacteria in the kitchen than on a baby's dish thing or a toilet seat!
Besides which, an elementary lesson in psychology will tell you the question would not be asked if the answer was plate 2.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Seany on 05/05/2007 14:56:44: Yep. Because everyone's first thought is that it would be plate number 2. So most people would definitely pick plate 1, because they assume it is some sort of trick question. Unless they already knew the answer.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: ukmicky on 05/05/2007 17:55:36: There is the other one as well.

where is it safer to pickup and continue eating that tasty snack you just dropped on the floor ,your living room or the pavement out on the street where people walk up and down with all the dog and bird muck.

And the anwser is of course the street as the suns rays kill the germs on the pavement.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: neilep on 05/05/2007 19:03:24: I think it's plate 3 ............Doh !!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Karen W. on 06/05/2007 01:04:58: I think plate No. one is the kitchen plate!.. Tons of germs on kitchen counters!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: elegantlywasted on 06/05/2007 01:49:48: I thought it was a well known fact that it is safer to eat something that dropped into your toilet bowl than it is to eat something that dropped into your sink...?
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: lyner on 09/05/2007 11:36:35: I certainly wouldn't like to eat most of the things I drop down my toilet bowl even after rinsing under the tap!
I would , however, rescue a tomato from the sink.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: logicat5 on 09/05/2007 22:06:42: Definately No. 1 is the kitchen. Did similar experiment in microbiology and results showed that bathrooms would be cleaner.
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: BenV on 13/05/2007 18:43:18: I've locked the poll as the answer has now been given out on air. I'll let you all know the results when the podcast goes up on Tuesday!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: BenV on 16/05/2007 10:21:06: The results are in! In our test, we found roughly 5 times as many bacteria on a toilet seat as we did on a kitchen worksurface, including enteric bacteria (bacteria which could live in your intestines) and possibly salmonella and shigella (both of which can make you very ill)! This means that plate 1 was the toilet seat and plate 2 was the kitchen. In the poll, only 11% of you guessed correctly, and all the rest of you were wrong!

For more information, listen to the podcast (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2007.05.13/), or read the transcript (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/707/).

Thanks for taking part, and remember to wash your hands after you've been to the loo!
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Andrew K Fletcher on 20/10/2007 16:28:22: Whose toilet was it by the way? [:o]
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: chris on 07/01/2008 21:27:20: Ironically it was a toilet seat in our pathology department!

Chris
Title: Re: Were the bacteria on these plates collected in the kitchen, or the toilet?
Post by: Ronny on 28/04/2008 13:27:09: Wow!
Think that all cats should go to the toilet as their owners do ;)