Thursday, May 23, 2013

There's a Fungus Amongus...

This is going to gross people out. But I'll gross you out anyway.  While trying to satisfy my curiosity, I came upon this story posted online at Newser.com.  I'm going to tell you a story to set up the article.  If you've ever been on a mass market cruise line, then you'll know that on days at sea varying types of entertainment is set up for the passengers.  One such entertainment is the Newly Wed Game.  The cruise director will usually ask a very newly wed couple to come on stage, then another couple, say, married ten years, then maybe 30 years and then ask for the longest married couple to also come on stage.   Then the cruise director begins to ask them stupid questions.  It was at one of these events where the cruise director asks, "What is the one thing that you didn't know about your spouse when you married him/her and later found out about,  that really grossed you out?"  Ready?  This "bride" said it was when she caught her husband biting his toenails...with his teeth...If he had read the article below, would he have still nipped his pinkies with his teeth?  And now for the article: Read more...





(NEWSER) – If you always thought feet were kind of gross, you were right: There are almost 200 different types of fungi living on them, a new study finds. In fact, though fungi live all over your skin, they most like to congregate on the heel (home to 80 different types), between toes (60), and underneath toenails (40), the BBC reports. The US government study is the first to catalog the fungi that hang out on our body, sequencing the DNA of fungi from 10 adults. Fungi are typically harmless, and some are even beneficial, but some can cause disease (and they also "help to make your feet stinky," says a researcher).
Other popular locations for fungi: palm, forearm, inner elbow (18-32 different types each). Fungi were also found in or around nostrils, ears, scalps, hands, and—though these were not-so-hot spots—the head and trunk. Researchers wanted to get establish a "baseline" for healthy adults, and they hope the study will help combat athlete's foot and other fungal skin problems. Why are feet so popular with fungi? It probably has something to do with temperature, NBC News reports. The bottom line? "Wear your flip-flops in locker rooms," says the lead researcher.




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