While other countries have mastered the art of efficient public transport that rarely has any problems, in Australia we… haven’t quite got there yet. The hashtag #sydneytrains trends almost once a fortnight these days, but if you check the hashtag for the trains of any Aussie city you’ll find people complaining about delayed services and hanging out underneath a sweaty armpit. Next time you’re stuck on a train, take comfort in this fun fact: the air around you is 15% skin.
The University of Colorado published a study on just what, exactly, is in the air of the New York subway. There’s a lot of dirt, a lot of “organic matter” (I don’t even want to know), and a whole heap of skin.
Not all skin is created equal, either. Most of the skin in the air came from people’s heads or heels, but 12% of the skin floating around came from some really specific places. Think belly buttons, ear canals, armpits and butts. You’re so welcome.
So why is the air so full of skin? Because humans are disgusting, is the basic answer tbh. Humans shed between 0.03 and 0.09g of skin every hour of their lives. That adds up to about 35kg over your lifetime, which is a truly unimaginable amount of dead skin bits.
It’s a gross fact of life, that for our skin to replace itself it needs to come off somehow. Isn’t being alive fun?
So next time you’re rubbing up against some random person while trying to get to work, try not to remember this fun fact. Or, alternatively, remember it an accept that the 15% of the air on the train that’s made up of skin could be made up of far worse things, so it’s not all that bad, really.
Whatever it takes to get you through the train ride.
There are much better places to be trapped. Listen to the GOAT Team chat about how Michael Buble got stuck in a Brissy Hungry Jacks…
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