Microbial Cloud

You might blame your pets for shedding all over the house. But we humans do it too - and our stuff is alive. "We're [constantly:frequently] emitting [microbes:bacteria] around us. And this is coming from shedding of our skin, from exhaling, our hair, we're just full of these guys." Adam Altrichter, a microbial ecologist at the [University:School] of Oregon. "We've never been sterile organisms. We are definitely masses of microbes both in and on us."If you're picturing the Peanuts character Pig Pen, you may not be far off. Because biologists [estimate:increment] we shed a million particles an hour-including, of course, a lot of bacteria. Altrichter and his [colleagues:friends] wanted to measure that cloud of particles - the "Pig Pen" effect, if you will - so they asked 11 volunteers not to shower, dressed them in shorts and tank tops, and put them in a sterile chamber for hours at a time, while collecting microbial samples on surfaces and in the air.