12 Things Rotting in Your Bathroom — That Japanese Homes Never Had

There are twelve things in your bathroom right now that never fully dry out, and something is living on all of them. A Japanese bathroom contains none of them, and the reason is not tidiness. Researchers found that the film you have always called soap scum is actually a living biofilm dominated by Sphingomonas and Methylobacterium, and a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found nontuberculous mycobacteria in roughly two thirds of shower heads surveyed. The answer to most of what you see in there traces back to a single year, and it is not the one you would guess. 0:00 12 Things in Your Bathroom That Never Dry 1:04 1. 2:05 2. 3:18 3. 4:25 4. 5:37 5. 6:40 6. 7:49 7. 9:37 8. 11:07 9. 12:04 10. 13:20 11. 14:30 12. 16:27 Your One Thing Tonight