‘Bring us your dirt’ — Exposure Society “citizen science”

The International Society of Exposure Science, ISES, will hold its annual conference October 23-27 in Baltimore. The Society has invited all participants to bring dust samples for its Metals in Dust Samples Study. “A special ISES Metals in House Dust Study will analyze house dust samples supplied by the meeting attendees and report results at …

Probiotics for buildings: A potential future application of current work on microbes in buildings

Year 2030 1:  Construct a building 2: Spray bacteria and fungi all around the building 3: Wait a few weeks and then open for business Sound crazy?  Not necessarily.  This scenario, or something like it, is the kind of application that could theoretically come out of current studies on the microbiology of the built environment. …

Microbial art in the built environment: bacterial billboard goes viral

Our reference collection of papers on the microbiology of the built environment has a few papers on microbes and art.  Microbes have both destructive potential and restorative applications, mostly in regard to frescoes and paintings. However we haven’t talked much about using microbes as art, within the built environment. I had to post this story …

Geobacter bacteria use uranium reducing conductive pili “nanowires” to thrive in toxic waste

When most people think of the microbiology of the built environment they think of pathogens that hang out in buildings. Here’s a neat story about a helpful bacteria that lives in a very different kind of “built environment”… a uranium mill tailings site.  These tailings facilities are where all the waste and excess rock from …

Ever been grossed out by hospital workers wearing scrubs wherever they go? New study relates to this

When I walk around UC Davis campus or visit areas near hospitals I am always dismayed by the number of people wearing their scrubs when they go out to lunch, seminars, or just walk around.  I have always wondered whether those scrubs harbor anything nasty.  Well, a new study in the American Journal of Infection Control …