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Study Examined Germ Levels In Men's Beards Versus Dogs

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene. So do you assume that you're cleaner than your dog? Do you have a beard? Well, you might want to read a study published in European Radiology. Researchers were examining whether they can use the same MRI scanners for dogs and people, so they swabbed 18 bearded men and 30 dogs. The beards had higher microbial levels than the dogs, which led to uncomfortable headlines, like one in Huffington Post - "Men With Beards Have More Germs Than Dogs." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.