Althouse: "Could there be a kind of 'good' bacteria in the dirt that fed off perspiration?"

May 23, 2014

"Could there be a kind of 'good' bacteria in the dirt that fed off perspiration?"

"He knew there was a class of bacteria that derive their energy from ammonia rather than from carbon and grew convinced that horses (and possibly other mammals that engage in dirt bathing) would be covered in them. 'The only way that horses could evolve this behavior was if they had substantial evolutionary benefits from it,' he told me. Whitlock gathered his samples and brought them back to his makeshift home laboratory, where he skimmed off the dirt and grew the bacteria in an ammonia solution (to simulate sweat). The strain that emerged as the hardiest was indeed an ammonia oxidizer: N. eutropha. Here was one way to test his 'clean dirt theory': Whitlock put the bacteria in water and dumped them onto his head and body."

Whitlock = "David Whitlock, the M.I.T.-trained chemical engineer who invented AO+. He has not showered for the past 12 years."

15 comments:

PB said...: Gee, I ran across several people in downtown Chicago yesterday that probably haven't bathed in 12 years, too. Big deal.; 5/23/14, 7:30 AM
MadisonMan said...: My favorite part of this story is how it starts: An observation that horses roll in the dirt, and a question: Why?; 5/23/14, 7:51 AM
Jaq said...: I remember one time in Sydney in the 90's, an aboriginal getting on the train and clearing the car in about three seconds.

I am not sure that merely not showering and exposing oneself to dirt is the complete answer to hygiene.

Other than that, it is an interesting article.; 5/23/14, 8:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Crazy Street Corner Guy Off His Meds Says:

Harvey Keitel says that Stevie Nicks would tear open his soiled robe and lick the sweat from his chest and armpits and thighs with feral intensity, she would roll naked upon the hotel carpet like an animal in heat, kicking at the air and biting scarves and scratching fresh watermelon with dark witchy fingernails, the watermelon juices dripping down her forearms and onto her shoulders and breasts, the air was fever. Harvey says his sweat causes women to do all kinds of crazy things -- hallucinate, levitate, masturbate while robbing banks during LA heatwaves, the money in the bag put the money in the bag yes yes yes. Harvey says he cannot help it: the raw Wants seeps from his pores like stigmata, he hasn't bathed in years. I hope today brings a cool breeze.; 5/23/14, 8:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Crazy Street Corner Guy Off His Meds Says:

Harvey Keitel says that he would bury his face between the perfect Seventies California breasts of Stevie Nicks and leave an impassioned imprint of his sweaty face, like a Harvey Keitel Shroud of Turin. The hotel room was covered in Love Stains.; 5/23/14, 8:11 AM
Mitch H. said...: Check out the article, especially the unusually distinct display of the stages of cultural Stockholm Syndrome recorded by the writer, as s/he goes through the humiliation of the process, shame, hiding, then the inversion and the conversion-decision that this is all "working" and suddenly there's less smell, skin in better shape, etc. Like s/he's going through probiotic boot camp, a Parris Island of Slime and Stench.; 5/23/14, 8:57 AM
Larry J said...: Demotivator from Despair.com

Inspiration

Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, which is why engineers sometimes smell really bad.; 5/23/14, 9:06 AM
jr565 said...: The only way that horses could evolve this behavior was if they had substantial evolutionary benefits from it,'

why would you need evolution to explain this? Did horses evolve this behavior or is this simply what horses do?
Do we drink water because of evolution or because we get thirsty and water quenches our thirst. No evolution necessary.; 5/23/14, 9:21 AM
jr565 said...: Evolution aside, I see the benefit of this. Its the same reason people,take probiotics. You don't want to remove all bacteria from your colon. Some bacteria is healthy.

Ever heard of a fecal transplant? that's where doctors feed someone healthy shit. And it supposedly cures MRSA infections instantly because it repopulate the colon with healthy bacteria, but, its Shit! And shit is dirty!

Same reason why some caution against using antibacterial soap. It kills the good bacteria as well as the bad.

So could there be good bacteria in dirt? Of course.

Would I want to sit next to someone who wallowed in dirt and never showered. Nope.; 5/23/14, 9:32 AM
Levi Starks said...: During the 40 years the Children of Israel spent wandering in the wilderness, how often do you suppose they showered?; 5/23/14, 9:39 AM
Wince said...: "...convinced that horses (and possibly other mammals that engage in dirt bathing) would be covered in them... Whitlock, the M.I.T.-trained chemical engineer who invented AO+... has not showered for the past 12 years."

Yea, but isn't at least half the source of a serious case of BO extraterrestrial?

You know, the Klingons orbiting Uranus?; 5/23/14, 9:51 AM
Rocketeer said...: If I'm understanding Levi correctly, his theory is that it wasn't the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho.; 5/23/14, 9:58 AM
Wilbur said...: I've always suspected that children who never play in the dirt, or never get cut or skinned without immediate treatment, never develop a resistance to the "germs" (sorry for the unscientific term) that make people sick.; 5/23/14, 11:16 AM
Brian said...: Word that my browser tells me does not appear in that article: "wife."; 5/23/14, 1:48 PM
JamesB.BKK said...: Humans on most of the planet engage in frequent water bathing.

--The only way that humans could evolve this behavior was if they had substantial evolutionary benefits from it--

To observe a current behavior and declare it an evolutionary advantage only because it exists is a dubious exercise. Smell ya later, Whitlock.

Horses run on one toe each and routinely die because they twist their intestines while - you guessed it - rolling on the ground. Horses were extinct in North America when the Spanish and Portuguese arrived with what would now be considered an "invasive species." That's what "substantial evolutionary benefits" can get you, horses. The natives were terrorized by the men on these strange creatures leading in large part to their demise.; 5/23/14, 8:27 PM