Kitchen sponges are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria on a level comparable to soil, according to a new study.
Not only are sponges fundamentally ideal places for bacterial growth, but they are better places to grow bacteria than petri dishes - tools used by scientists to grow bacteria.
The reason behind this off-putting fact was uncovered by US researchers at Duke University who explained why sponges are so great at this horrible habit.
Bacteria in sponges is not just due to dirty plates, but it turns out that sponges' structure is a fantastic place for so-called 'diverse bacterial communities'.
"Soil provides this sort of optimal mixed-housing environment, and so does your kitchen sponge," researchers concluded.
Some bacteria are loners whilst others 'thrive' in groups, scientists explained, and unfortunately, sponges are welcome environments for both.
The study, published online in Nature Chemical Biology on February 9, uncovered that the structure of sponges are remarkably similar to that of soil.
"Bacteria are just like people living through the pandemic — some find it difficult being isolated while others thrive," said Lingchong You, professor of biomedical engineering at Duke.
"Maybe that's why it's a really dirty thing — the structure of a sponge just makes a perfect home for microbes."
Soil's nooks and crannies provide a space for different bacteria to grow without mixing too much with their neighbours.
The structure of sponges looks like soil in the way it "mimics the different degrees of separation found in healthy soil, providing different layers of separation combined with different sizes of communal spaces".
Researchers ran their experiment with samples of E. coli in petri dishes which tested different environments for bacteria growth.
But then the scientists put the common household sponge to the test, stating: "The results showed that it's an even better incubator of microbial diversity than any of the laboratory equipment they tested."
