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Science Quickly

House Dust Organisms Reveal Location and Residents

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.41.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2015

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The particular fungi found in house dust can tell investigators where you live, and the bacteria in the dust can give away who and what you live with   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, Deadpool here. We're very excited to be joining you, but we should set the table correctly.

0:05.4

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0:09.4

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0:19.0

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0:23.0

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0:25.0

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0:30.0

This is Scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Erica Berris. Got a minute?

0:37.0

The dust that accumulates in the corners of your house does more than just cause allergies and aggravation.

0:44.6

It's also teeming with clues about where you live and who you live with.

0:49.2

That's the finding of a study in the proceedings of the Royal Society B.

0:53.0

Researchers had volunteers at nearly 1,200 homes across the U.S.

0:57.0

collect indoor and outdoor dust samples.

1:00.0

The average homes dust contains about 5,000 types of bacteria and 2,000 types of fungi.

1:07.0

The fungi gave away a lot about a home's location.

1:10.6

Different regions have different fungal populations, and thus so do houses within those regions.

1:16.0

For example, dwellings around the Great Lakes have very different fungi than did homes in Arizona because most household fungi originate outside

1:26.1

and come in either on people's clothes or through windows and doors.

1:30.3

As for the bacteria, those were strong indicators of the identity of the home's residence.

1:35.8

Much of the bacteria was shed by the human body and was a pretty good indicator of a home's

1:40.8

gender ratio.

...

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