jtotheizzoe:

You can go ahead and thank Carl Zimmer in advance for the hours of sleep you’re about to lose.

As part of his role as the internet’s cataloguer for all that is tiny, invisible and mildly terrifying, he stumbled upon a study that counted the number of viruses and bacteria in a cubic meter of air. Ready for this?

• It contains between 860,000 and 11 million bacteria.
• It contains between 1.6 million and 40 million viruses.
• In each minute of breathing, you intake several hundred thousand viruses, and who knows how many bacteria.

Of course, without viruses, and the genes they have donated to us, mammals couldn’t be born. And the number we breathe is nothing compared to how many are in the ocean (light years’ worth!!).  I guess there’s a silver lining … most of them can’t infect humans? If you need me, I’ll be in my Contagion bubble.

So, uh … how long can you hold your breath?

wow