Side note: (They’re on the phones not in them, I just wanted consistency in my titles).
Article: Scientists Discover 3 New Species of Microbes Growing on Mobile Phones
Source: Press Trust of India March 6th, 2017
Summary: Microbes live pretty easily on phones, and some scientists in India found 2 new bacteria and 1 new fungus species on the phones they sampled. Tips to clean phones without antimicrobials are included in the article, as they hint at a need to avoid creating super-resistant microbes.
Connections: Mobile phones are used by a lot of people and some people from class got their isolate from their phones, so I believed this article would be something cool to write about.
Critical Analysis: The article explains their findings well, and has enough background/follow up material to get it across to all audiences. The information is displayed in a way that makes you feel as though you are reading a government produced guide on washing your hands, but otherwise the article is fine.
Question: Since the scientists did not sample from phones where super-resistant microbes might be I wonder how the phones that might have super-resistant microbes would differ in their microbial community.