COVID-19 has reshaped how we think about public health and the practical steps we take every day to keep ourselves safe and healthy. Today more than ever, we share a heightened responsibility surrounding our environmental hygiene, as well as the potential harm that poor cleaning habits can cause.  

Something we encounter every day is dust. It’s synonymous with being untidy, old, and causing us to sneeze. But perhaps in our post-COVID world, we will see dust a little differently. 

Dust is an organic material, a combination of microbial vegetable or animal materials. Often, household dust is comprised of skin cells from human inhabitants and pets. As it is biological, dust can contain viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, insects, mites, and even antibiotics. Moreover, dust contributes to bioaerosols, which when disturbed, become airborne and can cause respiratory issues. This forms part of the background bioburden to the home and the subsequent risks from...

Bathtime wouldn’t be the same without a rubber duck. For children, and maybe some adults too, the main attraction of a scrub in the tub is the chance to play with rubber or plastic bath toys, watching them bob amongst the bubbles and submerge amongst the suds. But beneath the cheery exterior of bright wide eyes and chirpy beak exists a hidden danger - one that could make you or your children very unwell.

The best way to investigate this is to chop them open (sorry, ducky), revealing the microbial growths that manifest inside. The initial findings are startling, showing a significant build-up of dark, murky slime, known as a biofilm. Biofilms are, in fact, a whole host of different microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and moulds, that stick to each other and form a slimy substance to help them survive and multiply. 

What’s shocking is that this is not just a one-off or a particularly old toy. Research found that 70% of bath toys contained the same black, slimy...

Pathogen. Germ. Bug. Infection. Virus. Plague. Today, more than ever, it seems like we are constantly surrounded by an invisible world of hidden dangers. These words are synonymous with our times, but we are not the first generation who have had to contend with a dangerous pathogen. So, what is a pathogen, and how has history shaped the relationship between them and humans?

Pathogens, defined as an organism that causes a disease to its host, are spread across our planet on an unbelievably vast scope. They occupy every known environment, from nuclear waste sites to rocks buried thousands of metres beneath the surface of the Earth. Moreover, they are numerous as well as widespread. Scientists estimate the number of viruses on earth to be about 10³¹. That’s 10 billion times the number of stars in the universe. 

For over 1.5 billion years, viruses and other microorganisms have been seeking biological hosts in which they can manifest, and humans have been in an evolutionary...

Severe weather is becoming increasingly common as the effects of climate change bring wetter and warmer summers, along with more freak events such as cyclones and flash flooding. In Australia, the effects of El Niño and La Niña are a combination of ocean and atmosphere frictions. Amidst this, properties are at risk of costly damage, yet it may not be a monsoon or lightning that causes you or your property harm - it could well be mould.

Water damage and the potential for subsequent mould is something that many of us have had to deal with at one time or another, but water damage from a storm or flooding raises a whole host of additional problems. Primarily, the source of the water can determine how much of a health risk the mould can pose to us. 

Category 1 water is clean, such as from a leaky pipe or overflowing bathtub. It is unlikely to produce unexpected mould growth, however the longer it is left untreated, the higher the risk becomes.

Category 2...

“It's often said that a bad day with coffee is better than a good day without.” A fair statement, no? If you asked any of the drinkers of the 2.25 billion cups of coffee drunk daily, they’d probably all give you a similar answer. Some research suggests that coffee may even have some positive health benefits. But this uniquity of caffeine consumption raises some serious questions about the damaging effects our coffee habits are having on the planet.

Let’s begin on a positive note: A research paper from April 2020 reviewed randomized clinical trials and other observational studies to show that coffee can reduce the risk of type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, as well as several forms of cancer. So perhaps you are inadvertently protecting yourself from some harmful conditions each time you pop into your local cafe.

Sadly, the positivity ends there. Our growing demand for coffee presents us with a multitude of issues, many of which require urgent action.

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When we see mould on our food our immediate reaction is to throw it away. To us, it is an indication that the food has turned bad, and we assume that food would not taste the same because fermentation has started. Along with this, we begin to question the texture, aroma and appearance of the food.

However, we sometimes see mould as a delicious component of some of our favourite indulgences.

Mould is, of course, responsible for the speckles within blue cheese and it’s characteristic saltiness and sharpness. It is caused by the cultivation of Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum during the oxygenation of the cheese.

Mould can be seriously harmful to us, especially to those who suffer from an allergy to it, so is there a heightened risk from eating blue cheese?

We know that allergies and immune responses are influenced by our environmental exposures in our early life. In fact, eating cheese at 18 months of age shows a protective effect especially for eczema and...

We all know about the devastating effects that change in our climate will cause, from melting ice caps, rising sea levels and more extreme weather. But there is another risk too, and one that could potentially affect all of us in the way we build and look after our homes, and how we try to save the ones at risk.

One of the consequences of climate change that we are already seeing, and bearing witness to its effects, is changes in our weather. Namely, we are experiencing warmer and wetter winters along with warmer and drier summers. Amidst the plethora of changes this will cause, scientists are concerned about an increase in the severity of microbiological attacks of exposed timbers. This means that any type of wood used in construction could be more at risk to decay from mould and wood-rot fungi.

Scientists use something called the Scheffer Climate Index to monitor temperature and rain variables, which can be used to indicate how preferable the conditions are for harmful mould and...

Sometimes, it seems like the hardest thing in the world to do is to get to sleep. Be it struggling to drift off, tossing and turning in the early hours or waking up too early and not being able to get any more shuteye - it’s something we’ve all had to deal with at one point or another.

George Clooney blames his insomnia on a racing mind, helped only by going to sleep with the TV on, whilst Lady Gaga’s fibromyalgia and PTSD are both conditions known to negatively affect a person’s sleep. On the other hand, Rihanna’s reported ‘3 to 4 hours of sleep’ is self-inflicted, with the popstar admitting to binge-watching TV late at night. 

A 2016 Centre for Disease Control report concluded that sleep problems, including insomnia,  sharply increases the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and obesity. Moreover, insomniacs are far more likely to suffer from mental health issues like depression as well as being linked to all major psychological...

We all know the smell. That damp, pungent aroma that lingers in the air, it can be earthy, meaty and musty, like sodden socks or rotten wood. The odour has connotations of decrepit squalor, yet it is something we’ve all had to deal with at one point or another, so, just what is that smell, and is it worth a $5million lawsuit?

Megan Fox, actress and model, amongst other things, is suing a range of lawyers and agents after buying a Malibu property which allegedly had a mould problem. Miss Fox claims that the mould on the property, caused by damp, was causing her “chronic headaches” for which she received “holistic treatment.”

So it would appear that even the Hollywood elite are all too familiar with the pervasive aroma of mould, but just what is it that gives it that distinct scent?

The smell released from mould, or more generally fungi, are called VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). The’s VOCs can be pleasant, such as the odour emitted from wine or...

Hi there. My name is Dr. Cameron Jones and I'm an environmental microbiologist, and do I have an interesting show this week. Yep, we're going to be talking about something which affects all of us.

Now, we're going to be talking about the hidden dangers in pillows. And why this is an interesting topic and potentially affects every single one of us is because a fascinating publication came out in the research literature just one week ago. And it was focusing on something called invasive aspergillosis. And anyone who has been following my livestreams knows that I am continually focusing on the global impact of fungal infections and exposures and what we can do about it for better health. And what better way to introduce this whole topic of invasive aspergillosis than to talk about the microbiology of pillows. And to do that, I want to go back to a well-known publication about fungal contamination of bedding.

Now, why might this be important? Well, the global market for pillows is...