I didn’t need to see the bacteria.

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I already knew that college students often (usually) smell bad.

Josh Le displays petri dishes with bacteria samples from his jeans, worn continuously for 15 months (left) and 13 days (right).

3 thoughts on “I didn’t need to see the bacteria.”

  2. So basically, by two weeks his pants were colonized with the bacteria and their composition or number didn’t significantly increase over the next year, since the samples are quite similar.

    Honestly though, how in the world can you wear pants for even two weeks straight – much less 15 months – without getting dirt or stains or something on them, and without them getting smelly eventually? Even people who hang out in labs and aren’t into physical exercise* still need to eat and do other things that occasionally result in stains. Did he walk around in progressively filthier and stained pants for all that time?

    * Not to say that those are always connected – there’s plenty of physically active scientists/students/lab rats. But since physical exercise would be the main reason for sweating and smelling, I wanted to remove that from the equation.

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