So much for 'Sciencecentral' They don't even specify if the 17% bacteria difference between hands occurs in both left-handed and right-handed people. Of course there would be a 'difference' because you don't use your dominant hand in the same way as your other hand and therefore it is not exposed to the same surfaces. How is that surprising? women tend to have longer nails, is that a factor? what about hand creams and other chemicals women use more often than men? none of that was mentioned.

"Why do we have so many bacteria and what are they doing there?" are you serious? the human body is a paradise for microorganisms; predictably stable, warm, nutrient rich environment. The human body can harbor as much as 10000 times as many bacterial cells as human cells and he asks why are there so many species on our hands?

He did not even say which of the 150 something species found are actually harmful. There is bacteria all over the skin all the time, but only a few cause harm, and most are kept in check thanks to the skin. Many species have lived with human beings for thousands of years.
Why do you think as soon as we die and consequently, homeostasis stops, do our bodies get consumed by bacteria so quickly?

I am all for scientific news but the quality of this piece is fucking ridiculous.

Any behaviorally different grouping is going to exhibit differences in hand bacterial colonies on average.

Without knowing more, it seems possible that our bodies generate significantly different biochemical environments on our hands as well.

The human mind tends to operate in an essentialist manner, which can overemphasize average difference, but keep in mind the range within most groupings will be greater than the average difference between groupings.

of course if you use the cross-section of students you'll end up with more bacteria on girls' hands. Imagine the male students routinely have one cock in their hand: their own, while female students are used to frat parties where they're rocking three or four at a time...

*nature

Adding video to channels (Nature) - requested by ant.

I feel this doesn't really even merit a response, but what the hell, it's sunday.

A sample of 50 students? Presumably all from the same campus? Basically that means that even a single ill person, or one with unusually dirty hands, using the womens' lavatory could probably account for the difference. Science reporting these days... Generally when you hear researchers referred to simply as "scientists" you know you can just ignore the article in question.