• There are countless different bacteria that live in our environment
• American researchers gathered bacteria form the shoes and cellphones of thousands of people across the USA
• A lot of the bacteria on shoes and phones of participants belong to groups called ‘microbial dark matter’ 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fears of the coronavirus have put germs on nearly everyone’s radar. But a new study points out just how little is known about the microbes that inhabit your environment.

You likely have thousands of different varieties of bacteria on your shoes and cellphone, including groups hardly ever studied by scientists, said researcher David Coil, of the University of California, Davis Genome Center, and colleagues.

“This [study] highlights how much we have to learn about the microbial world around us,” Coil said in a university news release.

The researchers analysed the DNA of bacteria gathered from the cellphones and shoes of nearly 3 500 people who attended sporting events across the United States.

No obvious regional trends

A consistent finding was that the shoes and phones of the same person had distinct communities of bacteria. Cellphone bacteria reflected those found on the person, while shoes had bacteria characteristic of soil. This matched previous results.

Populations of bacteria on shoes were more diverse than those on phones, according to the study.

Although samples were collected nationwide, the researchers didn’t find any obvious regional trends. In some cases, there were significant differences between samples collected at different sporting events in the same city. In other cases, samples from distant cities were quite similar.

The researchers were surprised to find that a substantial proportion of bacteria on shoes and phones came from groups called “microbial dark matter”. These bacteria are difficult to grow and study in a laboratory, so they have been compared to invisible “dark matter” believed to comprise much of the universe.

Dark matter groups of bacteria have only been discovered as scientists used genetic sequencing to search for microbes in different locations. Although many dark bacteria groups are found in remote or extreme environments – such as boiling acid springs and nutrient-poor underground aquifers – some have been discovered in more common habitats, such as soil.

“Perhaps we were naive, but we did not expect to see such a high relative abundance of bacteria from these microbial dark matter groups on these samples,” said study co-author Jonathan Eisen, of the UC Davis Genome Center.

The findings were published on 9 June in the journal PeerJ.

^{Image credit: iStock}

• When working from home, we need to make sure our work station is ergonomically sound
• We must also avoid sitting down for too long without taking a break
• Forms of exercise like desk stretches or yoga can help us stay physically and mentally healthy

If you’re working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic and expect to keep doing so, you need to be sure your work station is set up properly, an orthopaedic specialist says.

You also need to take regular breaks to move around, according to Terrence McGee, a physical therapist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

In an office, many people have ergonomic support and opportunities for physical breaks. You might have walked to the water cooler or coffee machine, attended meetings or walked to co-workers’ desks, he noted in a university news release.

Feet flat on the floor

To help you adapt to working at home, McGee has some suggestions to improve the safety and comfort of your workspace.

When sitting at your desk, rest your feet flat on the floor. Use a footrest if the desk height can’t be adjusted.

Your thighs should be parallel to the ground, with a two-finger space between the back of the knees and the chair, and 3–6 inches of space between your thighs and the desk/keyboard.

Place a small pillow or towel roll behind you for lower back support, he suggested. Your head should be level, facing forward, and in line with your torso.

The top of your computer screen should be at or slightly below eye level. The screen itself should be 18–28 inches from your eyes, or at arm’s length. If you feel you need to bring your eyes closer to your screen, consider seeing an eye doctor for an eyeglass prescription, or make your screen’s text larger, McGee said.

Don’t stay seated all day

If you use a dual monitor, swivel your body in your chair rather than constantly turn your head to view the monitors. If you can’t adjust your chair, consider changing the orientation of the monitor from landscape to portrait.

When using the keyboard and mouse, relax your shoulders and place your forearms parallel to the floor. Your wrists should rest in a neutral position (hand in line with wrist and forearm). Use soft pads or a wrist rest as needed, and keep the mouse within easy reach and next to the keyboard. Adjust mouse sensitivity for a light touch. A cordless mouse is the best option, McGee noted.

Also, use a hands-free headset if you’re on the phone for more than two hours a day, and use a document holder to secure papers when typing.

It’s not good for your physical or mental health to stay seated all day. Stand and move from your chair at least once an hour, McGee advised.

Also, perform desk stretches or chair yoga in between work tasks, he added.

^{Image credit: iStock}