FLICKR, KATE TER HAAR
The largest survey of the microorganisms living in houses to date shows that small samples of household dust can carry a lot of information. Researchers used genetic sequencing and microscopy to detail the composition of bacterial and fungal communities in dust samples from around 1,200 households across the U.S. The results were published today (August 26) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“We have known for a long time that microbes live in our homes,” study coauthor Noah Fierer, a biologist at the University of Colorado, told BBC News. “What we are doing is now is old-fashioned science, to see how they vary across space.”
These initial findings of the citizen science project called The Wild Life of Our Homes indicate that the ...
