The Bacteria on a Handprint of an 8-Year Old after Playing Outside

It's a simultaneously beautiful and disgusting work of art. Tasha Sturm of Cabrillo College in Aptos, California sent her 8 and 1/2 year old son outside to play. When he returned, she pressed his hand into a large plate of trypticase soy agar. The bacteria on his hand grew into this lovely formation--a vibrant array of colors and fractal shapes. Sturm describes it in more detail in the comments at this post.

-via Colossal


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It'd be interesting to see a control done with the same kid just after they'd washed their hands. And then again after they'd washed them properly, which in my experience no eight year old does...or can.
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