Illustration: Riki Blanco
3 of 5
60 Seconds
Nuke Your Dish Sponge
"If I come back in my next life as a bacterium, I would love to live in a sponge. They're moist and full of food— everything bacteria need to thrive," says Charles Gerba, PhD, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. When Gerba analyzed 325 kitchen sponges, he found that about 15.4 percent contained salmonella and many more had E. coli. To nix the ick, microwave a damp sponge on high for one minute.
