How Clean Should We Be?

Guess what mango?

What's that will? So I was traveling last week and as I go through security, I'm waiting on my bag to be scanned, and I catch this strong whiff of pure ol and it reminded me to pull mine out, because there's something about all this stuff going in and out of bins that really grosses me out. But then I realized mine wasn't on me. So I looked at the end of the moving belt and I saw there was a dispenser. I walk over and I put some of that magic on my hands. Ten feet after that,

How come?

Well, no one wanted to try this goofy stuff, you know, So Jerry came up with a sales trick. Just before a meeting. He scored a little dab on his palm. Then when someone would shake his hand, they'd get startled because who wants to feel this cold, wet glob and a handshakes It's.

Pretty gross, I know.

But as they rubbed it to get it off, the factory stains would vanish from inside their palms, which I guess is pretty smart. It's a genius, I think. And so this is the proto PUREL and today hand sanitizers are everywhere. But looking at all the hands sand around us, it got me wondering are we being over protective?

How clean should we be?

And that's the question we're tackling on today's part time genius. Hey, there podcast listeners, I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Mangash hot ticketter, and you're listening to Part Time Genius now today I can barely recognize Mangosh because he's currently wrapped in plastic wrap from the office kitchen. Any reeks of hand sanitizer? Did I use too much?

I mean, maybe a little.

Well, I know Purell is more your thing, but ever since doing all this research on germs this week, I'm thinking of making it my signature scent. Like how prints always smell like lavender.

I can't say that I was aware of this.

Yeah, used to smell like heavy, heavy lavender, and his friends used to say that they could smell his presence like a full minute before he entered the room. So you'd be sitting there and you'd feel this hit of lavender and then oh, you'd just appear like an angel. Anyway, after this week, I'm thinking of doing that with Purel.

I think that's a that's a brilliant plan, Mango. But you know what's interesting, and I realize we're going deep on hand sanitizer before this episode even starts. But one of the things customers always indicate is a preference for unscented sanitizers, but when hand sanitizer companies came out with more a few years ago, not only did customers not buy the fragrance ree versions, but there was concern in the health community that people weren't applying enough of it

I would agree with that.

But speaking of our research this week, we were reminded yet again that science is weird because it feels like we're always reading these contradictory reports. It's healthy to drink wine one week, then it's not healthy to drink wine. It's healthy to drink coffee, It's not healthy to drink coffee. You know, it turns out it's not healthy to smoke a bucket full of cigarettes. That is how they sell cigarettes now today.

Still, yeah, you want to get them by the top, that's the super cool thing to do.

And it feels like studies on germs are the same way. I mean, we know it's good to be clean, but we also hear reports that tell us to quit trying to kill every germ out there. Speaking of which, before we fully dive into this, I know we can both be a little germaphobic, Mango, But what's one thing you do it was a germophobe that you'd be embarrassed to admit.

I know. For me, it's that as soon as I.

Walk into a hotel room, I look for the free shower cap and the bathroom or the plastic bag and the ice bucket to slip over the remote control so like a remote control condom. Oh yeah, I love it.

So we've known each other for almost twenty years now, and I'm not sure you know this, but I won't take a sip out of a drink someone else has been drinking from.

I know.

And it's not just germophobic, it's cultural. Like in India, the tap water is undrinkable, so families tend to keep big glass bottles filled with purified water on tables. They're communal and they're just builled and ready to drink from. So as a four year old, you learn to pour water from one or two inches above your mouth, so you're never actually touching your lips to it. And it's all because you don't want to spread germs, like if you've touched your lips to it, then you've ruined it

Of where those things ven diagram. I think this is really the kind of thing you shouldn't admit, not because it's that embarrassing, but because friends love to mess with you on things like this. It's like when friends find out that I can't stand for my nose to be touched. It makes me dizzy, and then they just think it's so funny to walk up and tapy right on the use a button nose.

That's right now.

We also wanted our podcast listeners to share some of their more embarrassing germaphobic moments on Facebook. So if you're up for sharing, contribute your story to our Facebook page and we'll be mailing out a big and ridiculous prize to our favorite three stories. What's the prize again, I can't tell you that's going to be huge, so big.

Can't wait.

But let's talk about this recent cover story and New Scientists. You know this is one of my favorite magazines. I mean, honestly, how many times a day do I mention my love of New Scientists? Conservatively? Maybe four hundred?

Well, i'd say at least yeah.

So Penny Sarche, biomedical news editor for New Scientists, which we've established I love, and who's going to be joining us a little later today wrote a story titled Germ Warfare, and in it she talks about this struggle of trying to figure out how clean is too clean, because we know good hygiene helps prevent infection and the spread of disease, but we also know they are definitely good bacteria that keep us well. But let's back up a little bit.

With a dog, or if their parents wash dishes by hand. I mean, we're a dishwasher.

Family, so whit kids are screwed. Definitely us two. But oh, here's a really gross one. Are you ready for this? You might want to gargle a little more pure l before I read this, though, so Sarche says a twenty fourteen paper that found that children are less likely to develop precursors to asthma if in their first year they're exposed to particles from cats, mice, and cockroaches.

It makes you wonder if.

They'll eventually develop a powder made of cat hair, mice tails, and cockroach faces that you sprinkle on your kid.

Cockroach faces. Yeah, I don't know why it has to be faces, but it just seemed all of it was gross.

I can't even imagine that.

Actually, I read this piece in the La Times about Amish families and their homes because the kids tend to have considerably less asthma. And scientists actually took dust from regular homes and then dust from Amish households, and when they sprinkled the Amish dust in front of mice's noses, it tended to protect the mice's airways from allergens, which is so crazy, so amish dust. It's like a new

Ask?

Now, who's that? I can't wait for the answer on this one.

What is that of right?

For some reason I got stuck in a rabbit hole about royalty and according to the economist, kings from France and England in the fifteen hundreds and sixteen hundreds were the dirtiest.

Huh.

Like they believe hot water was the devil and that it could open up your pores and let all sorts of illness in. So here are a few stories I found, like Francis Henry the fourth famously stunk of quote sweat stables feet and Garland, oh Louis the eighth didn't have his first bath until he was seven.

Oh god versa ill for all the.

Glamorous laboratories like washing with water wasn't even a concern. And England's James the First never bathed. He only washed his fingertips, just just the tips.

That is so gross.

But unfortunately, being healthy and living forever isn't as simple as just saying, okay, let's be dirtier. But before we dig into that, how about we break for a quiz.

Sounds smart, So, Mango, who do we have on the line to play today?

So we've got two lab scientists. Their names are Bertha and Umish, and Umesh is a special guest.

He's your dad.

That's right.

Well, Umesh, welcome to the show.

Oh, thank you. So you know, Umesh was a chemical engineer who worked on several agriculture products over the years.

But I heard that you actually first got.

Interested in chemistry and experiments by baking bread with your dad as a kid in India.

Is this true? Or is Mango just making stuff up as usual.

You used to make the week Club and we had to modify it for gluten and other things to make it.

Should it rose and reacted with the east.

Oh that's wonderful. That's really neat. What a great way to be introduced to the sciences.

And our second guest, Bertha is at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Bertha, welcome to the show.

Hey Ertha, Hi, thanks for having me.

Tell us a little bit what you do at UAB So.

I'm a genetic epigemiologist. And that does not mean that I study skin diseases. I study genetics and TAISI diabetes and ABCD and cardivascular disease and try and figure out what environmental exposures can change some of our genetic outcomes.

Oh wow, very cool.

Yeah, we do the same thing, but Mengo and I are both really into that kind of just on the side. Yeah, speaking of on the side, I understand that when you first got into the field, you weren't quite making enough money to make ends meet, so you would ballroom dance to bring in additional money.

Is this true?

I did.

I am responsible for many a wedding first dance choreography. Oh well y yeah, yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Oh cool.

Well, best the best science is very collaborative science. So we've decided to let you to team up for this quiz.

Now, what are we playing, Mango.

We're playing a game called clean Sweep. Hmm, okay, all right, now, normally we would try to make some sort of tangential connection, like being lab scientists, you're very good at sanitizing things.

But we want to be honest with you here.

We just found a lot of words that rhymed with clean and turn them into quiz questions.

So this is how it works.

We're going to give you a clue and then you say the word clean before the example.

So this is so stupid, Mango. You're the best at these awful courses, all right, So give us a sample, Mango.

So the reason we wear costumes on October thirty first.

You would say clean Halloween, right, or Elizabeth the second's title. In England you might say clean Queen.

Right?

All right, you guys got it? Okay, So here we go.

We're gonna let you guys go one at a time, but you're working together, and if one of you doesn't get it, you can toss it to the other person. So, Bertha, we will start with you. Question number one. A stretched out car that glamorous people get to drive in.

Ooh clean limousine.

Well for one umesh an underwater vessel the Beatles sang about you got it all right, Bertha? A jingle jangle hand instrument. Bob Dylan asks a man to play in the song.

Oh my Goodness, I punch and my dad as a backup singer in a Rolling Stones band in Colin might not this all right?

Let's hear it.

It's a jingle jangle hand instrument. It would be a clean tambourine.

That's okay, we only have to get six out of.

All right.

This is back to you.

The thing you mix with ginger ale in a Shirley temple. Clean, well done, Nice there, Bertha. Okay, this one's back to you, all right. A character with adamantium Claus from the X Men. It's also the University of Michigan mascot.

Yes, on the edge of our We're just gonna throw them out.

Let either one of you answer. Here we go number number six. You guys have gotten five out of six, so you're in good shape. A colorful easter candy. The easter bunny might leave for you a colorful candy. The Easter bunny might leave for you.

A clean jelly.

You got it, Bertha, well done, all right. Question number seven two left a method of execution that arose during the French Revolution. The last time one was used and was in France in nineteen seventy seven.

I got it.

Nice job, last one, all right. Former star of Two and a Half Men, brother to Emilio Estevez.

Oh gosh, it's got a dad named Martin.

Oh clean, yes, clean, Charlie Sheen, I don't think really exists. So it's a mythical creature.

So how many do they? How many they get right, mango?

So they got seven out of eight and of course that means they win the big prize, which is a note to your mom or or boss written from us, which is, you know, finally the validation you've been looking for.

Wow, what a great prize. Congratulations guys.

So we're talking about the question how clean is too clean? And before the break we were discussing how a little more dirt in our lives might.

Be a key to healthier life.

But for anyone who heard that and decided to start licking the floor, pull yourself together, it's a little more complicated than that.

Although it is a little of that right, Like one of the things I'm fascinated by is that we ingest fifty to sixty milligrams of soil a day, and that little bit of dirt might be helping us be healthier. Like scientists also think playing quote social sports can help and will I know, we like to have debates about what a sport is, like is Badman really a sport?

Please don't get me started on.

I know you have some super strong feelings, but what's important here is where we're getting our daily bacteria from could actually play a big role in.

Our health, right, I mean, the reality is some bacteria are good, some are bad. So it's more about understanding our dun' da da microbiome. Now you're probably wondering what a microbiome is, and for the super condensed version, let's turn to our microbiome correspondent.

Oh wait, that's you. You're you're a microbiome correspondent. Mang oh congratulations. All right, okay, talk to.

Meuch and honor, I can talk to microbiomes, so let's stuff to ak asecon We humans like to think of ourselves as individuals, right, like we've got big egos. But the truth is there are as many non human cells in our body as human cells, and because they're all working with us, playing a vital role in our body's success in some ways, it's more important to think of your body like a super organism, almost like a colony of ants all working together, or even a slime mold,

Would struggle if it was placed.

In the big intestine. Like, it's actually that complicated. As one of my science writer friends told me, humans are more closely related to C squirts than these microbacteria are to one another.

Oh wow.

Yeah, And another way to think about how diverse your body is is to like take a look at your left hand and your right hand. Your hands feel like they should be the same, right, Yeah, but of the thousands of bacteria on there, your left hand and right hand might only share one in six microbial species.

Like how bizarre is that?

That is pretty crazy?

Right, So scientists are isolating these microbes and understanding their superpowers. They're also considering how to hack the bacteria and use it to human advantage. Like in Sweden, doctors at a hospital noticed that their pneumonia patients were getting infections from feeding tubes, and the patients were having a harsh reaction

That's incredible.

So scientists have been using the Human Microbiome Project to crack the code and map out all of our microbiota.

Well, one crazy thing about microbiomes is that scientists used to think that how they were born might affect it, like c sections in particular, they thought might be creating a different type and perhaps less healthy baby than straight vaginal deliveries. But it turns out that isn't true. I mean it's true initially, but by six weeks the differences aren't even detectable, which is pretty crazy because.

Kids aren't crawling around then.

But the colonies just grow so fast in the mouth and on the skin and then the gut that they don't need that much exposure to grow these distinct colonies all over their bodies.

I know, I think of toddlers being dirty, but not really babies, dirty babies set.

But the lesson is, in general, it's healthiest to have a wider range of microbes. So it's not quite true to say that getting more infections as a child.

Makes us healthier later.

It's really the exposure to different bacteria, and almost exclusively exposure at a very early age. I mean we're talking before the age of three. That's when it's pretty much set. I mean, you know, as my mom used to say, once your microbiome is set, your microbiome is set. She's right, you got to set in forget it like a firm, like a yeah, or permanent, as my grandfather would say.

People still get perms? Is is that a thing they will? Now?

So that means the bad news for all those who were excited to start skipping your chores and stop washing your hands and bathing. It doesn't mean you should stop doing any of those things.

Well one sure, I mean I've read a bunch of these reports and they all said the same thing, don't make your bed?

What And can I tell you one thing?

Sure?

I hate this advice so much, like making my bed is the one thing I do. It makes my room look orderly. But even though I hate seeing this. An unmade bed is healthier because it exposes the dust mites in your bed sheets to sunlight and fresh air, which you know kills them off and helps your allergies.

Oh man, the kids are going to really love this episode, So don't bother making your bed. I'm behind that. But where should we be cutting back?

Now?

Here are a few places antibacterial soaps. I mean, we've been seeing for a couple of decades now that when we kill too much of the good bacteria, the undesirable bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics, which could be dangerous. Also, clean products indoor pollution from all the cleaning supplies and chemicals in them. The most harmful ones are often the ones being used just to produce a good smell.

So instead you.

Should clean with things like vinegar and other products that you'd feel comfortable cooking with.

Yeah. So, I was actually looking into this because my family tries to use mostly organic cleaning products for our kid's sake, And when I was googling what you can do to reduce the chemical sense in your home, one of the things that comes up is a list of recommendations from NASA. From NASA, Yeah, I just learned this. But every year in NASA issues a list of the best plants to help purify your home.

Huh.

And they've been doing clear air studies since the eighties because the agency wants to know what's the best way to clean the air and space stations. So this list of preferred plants has things like the peace lily, which can eliminate traces of formaldehyde and benzene and ammonia. But it's also toxic to dogs, which is kind of a big trade off, right, like peace dogs between clear air and this plant.

It's all plant.

But the crazier thing to me is this record inundation on the ideal number of plants you should have in your house. And can you guess what it is?

I don't know.

Four it's one plant for one hundred square feet. Like I live in a tiny, super small apartment with a wife and two kids, and now I have to share it with a tiny forest, like just to breed the air.

I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do.

That's so speaking of our homes and finding that perfect balance of clean Penny Sarchet describes as science approved hygiene sweet spot, So that is you're not looking to completely sterilize your home. It's more about focusing on getting rid of harmful bacteria in places. This bacteria is most likely to be in places we come into contact with, so

Hi.

Thanks so much for writing the story and for joining us. I do have to start up by asking you about this quote that, to be honest, kind of made me feel nauseous when I read it. So you were talking about a twenty fourteen paper that found that children are less likely to develop asthma or precursors dasma. I guess you said in their first year if they're exposed to particles from cats, mice, and cockroaches.

I mean, what do we do about this, Penny?

I know it's really grim, isn't it. I think the difficult thing is you can measure these things and find me associations, but working out like the cuisation and what that actually means is a cockroach particle food for a child, It's an entirely different experiment and one that you're not ever going to do so I wouldn't aim to have a sealthy home, but I think the best way to see that kind of thing is more an indication that it's not as simple as let's just be dirty or

Yeah, I'm glad to know that it's not necessarily the cat feces that you said.

That's like that to you.

So, Kenny, I, I thought you did a really nice job of describing a clean sweet spot in your article, and I was so curious if you could just describe that for our listeners a little bit.

Yeah, it's's quite helpful for me too. So it's basically almost like a priority system. So you should really focus on being clean at the most important sites and places in your home and at the most important times, and that stops you from spreading infection and getting sick. But it also means you're not spending your entire life needlessly

The whole study around the microbiome is just so fascinating, and it feels like we're still so early and understanding the microbiome. What kinds of things are you guys thinking about at new scientists right now, or things you think will be able to better treat as we as we'd better understand the microbiome.

Well, so it's so difficult to note because there's just endless conditions that seem to be linked in some way to the microbiome, like everything from Alzheimer's to obesity, and we're still really only sort of unraveling those links and we're still quite a long way from working out how usefully we can use this, but there haven't stopped lots of people from already developing like sprays and treatments and all kinds of things you can buy online to kind

You know what one thing I was curious about was whether your behavior has changed since working on this article, Like, when was the last time you washed your hands?

Yeah, I'm still a fan of washing my hands. I did to the toilet before speaking to you, so they're very keen right now. But yeah, hands watching, I haven't changed. I was hoping actually for an excuse to wash my hands left being a clean freak, but actually speaking into the food hygiene and home hygiene experts who were telling me about how many people get food poisoning in their homes every year. That actually gave me no excuse to

All right, Well, thank you for talking about how to be clean, and we want to put you to the test if you're willing to stick around and play a game of what did you say?

The game was called it's called not So Dirty Words, and it's a game we expressly wrote for you since you're a clean expert.

Here's how it works.

We're going to take one word that sounds dirty and give you two definitions and all you have to do is tell us which one is the real one?

Does that make sense?

Yeah?

Okay, yeah, all right, here we go. Word number one is formication. That's not with an N but an M as in Michael. Formication. Does it mean A A sensation like insects crawling on your skin or b the word veterinarians use for the tartar build up on a goat's teeth. Formication.

That's a tough one. I think I'm gonna go with formication insects because of maybe.

You are absolutely right, right, she's all also an insects expert. All right, this is a good one. Number two, this is where did you find these?

Mano? This is ridiculous? Okay? All right? Number two? Did you make this up? Is this a real thing?

Okay? Turtis Maximus?

Okay?

Is Turtis Maximus a broad shield volcano that forms in the middle of oceanic plates or the Latin name for the Tibetan blackbird found in the Himalayas and Pakistan. Turtis maximus. Is it a volcano or a blackbird?

Oh? I like to think if it was a bear it would sound more familiar. Although I can't remember what blackbird is right now, I'm going to go with the volcano.

Oh, it's actually the blackbird.

It's a member of the thrush family. Oh, of course, if we had just given her that hand said it was a member of the thrush family, nailed it. So number three, Our soul spelled a R s O l e is our soul a Hawaiian term for meat harvested from the tender coconut or B A ring shaped arsenic based organic compound. Is it a word for the meat harvested from the tender coconut or a ring shaped arsenic based organic compound.

I can't tell if it's a red herring or not, but surely.

Yes, you're right, well done, Okay, let's do I'm just having too much fun.

Let's let's keep going, all right.

The next one fart lick f A R T l e K. You can use these words in your articles in the future, by the way, Penny, you have our permission. Yeah, they're good ones, all right? Is A fart lick a Swedish method for training distance runners by varying pace and terrain, or b a small species of antelope closely related to the dictic. I'm gonna oh, the heart.

Sound like they should be related, right, but it's actually a Swedish distance training.

She needs to get three correct to win the big prize.

So let's do one more sack butt s A C K hyphen butt?

You do all right? Here we go?

Is it a the fourteenth century ancestor of the modern trombones, sometimes called a sag butt or b a Viking table used for formal banquets.

It is definitely, well you did.

What does she want, mango?

Well, she's ellegible for our top prize, which is our endless admiration.

Oh my gosh, congratulations Penny. Well, Penny, keep up the great work. We remain huge fans of new scientists. Thanks so much for joining us, and we hope to talk to you again.

Thanks very much. She was my pleasure.

Thanks by Welcome back to part time Genius.

So before the break, Penny Sarchet.

Was chatting about the hygiene sweet spot, that is, keeping your house clean but not too clean. It's kind of a Goldilocks approach exactly. Since I wanted to know what to watch out for, I got curious about the dirtiest places, and here are a few things I found so at home, the walls around your toilet.

You know, you just kind of imagine it's the toilet, but it's actually around.

Your toilet, the kitchen sponge, the kitchen sink drain, the cutting board is a really nasty one. That toothbrush cup where everybody keeps their toothbrushes. So some of these places that you don't immediately think about, and one of the huge ones the remote control. Now in hotels, two of the nastiest places are the remote control, which of course you'll no longer have to deal with thanks to our patented part time genius remote control condoms. You should see

That a twisty thing you put to turn to put on the air or maybe the drinks page of the airline magazine.

I'd say, yeah, that's a pretty specific page there, mega.

And I'm guessing it's not clean.

But the number one dirtiest thing in some studies by surprisingly significant margin, seems to be the tray table. What, yeah, it's discussing if you think about it, people are using it constantly, folding it up and it may not get clean. And let's get back to the idea of good bacteria. This is something we all hear more and more about these days because of probiotics, the four hundred varieties of

I did make that list. I'm the author of that list.

So there's definitely a lot to talk about with probiotics. And that's because the gut flora is really important. And it's important because it keeps you regular, like you don't want to be consumpated, right, But the thousand different bacteria in there also have a direct impact on your brain, and studies have shown strong links between anxiety, depression, even autism, and it's all linked to your gut flora.

Wow.

But and here's the important part. What you put in their matters. Like in twenty thirteen, the medical journal gastro Andrology published a paper where women ate yogurt twice a day and the probiotics changed the makeup of their gut flora and actually made them calmer and happier under stress tests.

That's fascinating.

Now, speaking of things we eat, it reminded me of what might be too clean. And I've got to tell you, I was thirty seven years old before I ever washed a banana.

A banana, yep, why would you wash one?

So one of my daughter's friends refuse to eat a banana from our house until I washed it because, as she said, my mom always washes my banana.

Well, if you're recommending it, I guess we should. But let's answer the question of how clean is too clean. Obviously you should keep washing those hands and bananas, and pay attention to the dirty st areas of your house, the things we touch a lot, like the light switches and remote controls and cutting boards.

But also, what's the best thing you can do to expose yourself to a wider variety of good bacteria. It's to spend more time outside, which, of course we're recommending from a room with no windows. I love it. Speaking of things I love. You know what time it is, Well, yep, it's time for the fact Off, where we share all the things we learned this week that we didn't get a chance to mention. But before we do that, we

I think we've got to give it to miss Goldie Lipman, who came up with the idea of Gojo the pre purel.

I agree.

I mean she passed away in the seventies, but we're going to add her to our Hall of Genius and send the company a certificate that they could hang on their office blooden board. So congratulations Goldie.

I'm for that.

But back to the fact off, mangush, as we like to say, on the part of north central Alabama where I grew up. You first, So here's a fact for you.

There's a guy named Jasper Lawrence who had severe allergies, like his eyes would swell up to the point where he couldn't see. He had intense trouble breathing, and he decided the only way he could get his boyer to stop attacking itself was to give it something to attack. So, and this is the part I love. He went to Cameroon and he intentionally walked around barefoot in areas where people went to the bathroom. Oh, I know, and the

I like to imagine the conversation where he's like, honey, I tried the flonase, it didn't work, so I'm going to move on to hookworms. So there's a psychologist from Cornell, David Pizarro, who studies the notion of disgust. And in one of his experiments, he had students fill out a survey on their political beliefs, and most of them were

Yep.

So one of the things I love is that the Japanese government has been organizing these things called forest baths, that's what they're called. And forest bats are basically guided tours on destressing. A guide will teach you how to break open a twin of sassafras and inhale and appreciate nature and generally be more mindful. And part of it is just reminding people how easy it is to get

Okay, I like that idea too. I've got another one here. IBM processed water. Have you heard of this? So one of the weird things is that instead of using solutions to clean their chips, IBM actually uses this ultra pure water that's what it's called. They process their water so many times, over fourteen times, that it has no specs of dirt or particles so that it doesn't scratch the chip. But the same thing that makes it great for cleaning

That's crazy.

So there's a great Sean Bradley story that I promise relates. Now, this is Sean Bradley, the basketball player.

Yeah, and so the escort I asked him what it feels like to be seven foot six, and you just generally feel miserable for the guy and his answers, like he can't buy normal clothes, he can't buy a regular sleeping bag, he can't buy a regular car. I mean, you realize this world is not fit for anyone his size. But the worst thing he said about being that tall is that when you're seven foot six, you're looking down

Oh yeah, I never thought about that at all. That's it must be really gross. So all right, pandas, let's talk about pandas. So pandas seem completely useless, right, They have a bacteria in their stomach that can reduce the mass and volume of garbage by ninety percent, which is great because anytime you don't want to take your trash out, you should be able to rent a pan at a squad on your rubber. It feels like another great business idea.

I like it.

So, speaking of what's too clean, the Mona Lisa has actually been cleaned too often. And you know, when you picture the Mona Lisa, you might remember she has almost non existent eyebrows and super light lashes. But that wasn't always the case, like she used to have thick brows, and art analysis actually showed that all that hair got thinned and trimmed over the years because the painting's been cleaned too much.

Okay, all right, that's a good one.

I'm going to give it to you win the battle this time, but I'll be back with some wild tangents next time. That's it for today's part time genius. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for.

Listening to Part Time Genius.

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Part Time Genius is produced by some of our favorite geniuses. It's edited by Tristan McNeil, theme song and audio mixing by Noel Brown. Our executive producer is Jerry Rowland. Our research team is Gabeluzier, Lucas Adams, Autumn white Field Madrano, Austin Thompson, and Meg Robbins. Jason Hoak is our chief cheerleader.