Scientist reveals the types of bacteria she found on airplane surfaces

1970-01-01 00:00

Millions of people fly on airplanes each year, so it's easy to imagine how germs and bacteria can grow in certain places - and why passengers bring anti-bacterial wipes with them. Now, one Master of Science student (@The_lab_life1) decided to see for herself by swabbing different areas of the airplane - and the results are interesting. As part of her TikTok series "What Will Grow?" the TikToker boarded a flight and then filmed herself swabbing a head rest, a tray table, the bathroom lock and handle. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter (With safety gloves on, of course). She then brought those swab samples back to the lab where she had to "make a lawn" as she swiped each of the samples across different petri dishes and then stored them away to wait for the results. After an undisclosed amount of time, the TikToker got the petri dishes out to see what happened to them. First up, the head rest sample had white spots all around it, as it contained: "M. luteus," "Streptococcus sp." and "N.subflava," as well as "M.Smegmatis." @the_lab_life1 Much better than expected, all pretty normal flora bacteria ?? #fyp #science #lab #whatwillgrow While the tray table sample had some tiny spots along with lighter shapes around the edges, and listed it as "B.subtilis," and bathroom lock and handle had yellow and white spots in it's petri dish also, which turned out to be "M. luteus," "Staphylococcus sp." and "Streptococcus sp." In the caption, the scientist gave her verdict: "Much better than expected, all pretty normal flora bacteria." The video has since gone viral with 1.3m views as people left their thoughts in the comment section. One person wrote: "Be right back, need to go wash my hair …. Again." Though when another asked if this was all bad bacteria, the TikTok replied: "No actually most of it is very normal and not harmful!" Someone else questioned: "How scared did that make the people sitting next you?" To which she replied: "I waited till they were asleep, didn’t wanna freak them out." Others made their fear of bacteria and germs known after watching the video. "This is why I bring my wipes everywhere better than nothing," one person said. Another wrote: "This made me not wanna ever go on an airplane." "I will never be embarrassed about wiping down my area on the flight ever again," someone else commented. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Scientist reveals the types of bacteria she found on airplane surfaces

Millions of people fly on airplanes each year, so it's easy to imagine how germs and bacteria can grow in certain places - and why passengers bring anti-bacterial wipes with them.

Now, one Master of Science student (@The_lab_life1) decided to see for herself by swabbing different areas of the airplane - and the results are interesting.

As part of her TikTok series "What Will Grow?" the TikToker boarded a flight and then filmed herself swabbing a head rest, a tray table, the bathroom lock and handle.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

(With safety gloves on, of course).

She then brought those swab samples back to the lab where she had to "make a lawn" as she swiped each of the samples across different petri dishes and then stored them away to wait for the results.

After an undisclosed amount of time, the TikToker got the petri dishes out to see what happened to them.

First up, the head rest sample had white spots all around it, as it contained: "M. luteus," "Streptococcus sp." and "N.subflava," as well as "M.Smegmatis."

@the_lab_life1

Much better than expected, all pretty normal flora bacteria ?? #fyp #science #lab #whatwillgrow

While the tray table sample had some tiny spots along with lighter shapes around the edges, and listed it as "B.subtilis," and bathroom lock and handle had yellow and white spots in it's petri dish also, which turned out to be "M. luteus," "Staphylococcus sp." and "Streptococcus sp."

In the caption, the scientist gave her verdict: "Much better than expected, all pretty normal flora bacteria."

The video has since gone viral with 1.3m views as people left their thoughts in the comment section.

One person wrote: "Be right back, need to go wash my hair …. Again."

Though when another asked if this was all bad bacteria, the TikTok replied: "No actually most of it is very normal and not harmful!"

Someone else questioned: "How scared did that make the people sitting next you?"

To which she replied: "I waited till they were asleep, didn’t wanna freak them out."

Others made their fear of bacteria and germs known after watching the video.

"This is why I bring my wipes everywhere better than nothing," one person said.

Another wrote: "This made me not wanna ever go on an airplane."

"I will never be embarrassed about wiping down my area on the flight ever again," someone else commented.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.