Dirty Money

Sure money is dirty, after all, there's no telling who's pocket it's been in. Sow how dirty is it?

A recent study found that some strains of flu virus can survive on paper money for up to three days! And up to 17 days if mucus is involved, ewwww! On top of that, one researcher cultured 68 $1 bills and discovered all but four had colonies of dangerous bacteria that can cause staph infections and pneumonia. Coins tested a little better with lower levels of germs, most likely because they've got trace metals that inhibit microbes.

There is a way to reduce your exposure. Use credit and debit cards instead of paper currency as much as possible. And when you do handle money, reach for the hand sanitizer too.

Source: Elizabeth Scott, author of "How to Prevent Food Poisoning"

5 Second Rule

If you live by the 5 second rule, or even the 3 second rule, you might want to reconsider. Some students studied the rule, and the results were pretty gross.

They placed salmonella on three different flooring surfaces, tile, carpet and wood. Next came the fun part, dropping food on each one. Their findings proved the bacteria was immediately present on each food, from each surface.

The same group of students tested double dipping too, and those results were downright germy, salsa was worse than cheese dip, the stickier the dip, the better, because less of it falls back into the bowl. Their next study, how much bacteria ends up on a birthday cake after blowing out the candles!