They’re on the money

            Every country may use different types of money, but probably they all have the same germs covering the money. Money has been studied by scientists for about 100 years and now they believe that the germs on the money could spread unwanted diseases. Most germ studies on money are from one country. But now they are working on a total of 10 countries to see the germ growth. These countries are China, Mexico, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Dutch, Irish, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Burkina Faso. The money came from street venders, cafes, and supermarkets because they are the most likely to use cash.

After the test, the Australian money had the fewest amounts of live bacteria, about ten per square centimeter (about the size of a Childs index finger). Chinese money had the most amounts of live bacteria, about one hundred per square centimeter. Most of the germs on the money would not cause harm. On the American dollar traces of E. coli was found. E. coli is found in animal’s intestines and is mainly responsible for food poisoning.

The money people use is actually not made out of paper. Money is printed mainly on fabrics that are mostly cotton or polymer. Polymers are molecules that are linked together and can take forms of solid or liquid or even both combined. In the test the three countries with the lowest amount of live bacteria used polymer. These countries are Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. The other countries printed their money on fabric mostly made of cotton. This research shows that germs have a harder time living on polymer. Scientists are doing more tests to determine how germs live on money and if we have to be concerned. They are now testing to see how long bacteria can live on money.

Go to …to read the article and to read other fascinating articles. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/68911/title/FOR_KIDS_Theyre_on_the_money

My opinion to the article is that they should work to figure out if people actually do get sick from money. If they could create germ proof money from these test they are doing, that would be so cool. If they can save lives on the project they should work on this project. I think they can make a difference since we all use money daily.