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Could our household microbes help or harm us?

We revisit our episode on dust to decide what we should do with our invisible housemates.

As scientists keep finding ever more fascinating facts about the invisible housemates that share our homes, we dust off our episode on what might be lurking in quiet household corners or under our beds.

Marnie Chesterton reminds us how dust can contain all sorts of secrets about our habits and everyday lives, and Anand Jagatia bravely ventures into parts of our homes that are usually overlooked. He heads out on a microbial safari with expert tour guide Dr Jamie Lorimer from the University of Oxford to find out what kind of creatures are living in our kitchens, bathrooms and gardens - from bacteria normally found in undersea vents popping up in a kettle, to microbes quietly producing tiny nuggets of gold. For so long this hidden world has been one that we鈥檝e routinely exterminated - but should we be exploring it too?

Presenters: Marnie Chesterton and Anand Jagatia. Produced by Jen Whyntie for 麻豆官网首页入口 World Service.

(Photo: A woman using a damp sponge to clean dust collected on a window sill. Credit: Getty Images)

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32 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 May 2019 17:32GMT

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  • Fri 24 May 2019 19:32GMT
  • Sat 25 May 2019 23:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 04:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 05:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 06:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 10:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 13:32GMT
  • Mon 27 May 2019 17:32GMT

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