Dream science win for Sara

From sweet dreams to the stuff of nightmares — it’s not just the bed bugs you have to worry about before tonight’s bedtime story.

Your pillow is hosting a range of microscopic bacterial and fungal nasties which could be harmful to health.

And the older the pillow, the more the bacteria levels increase, to the point where, within just two years, one third of the mass of your pillow is of dead skin cells, bugs, and dead dust mites and their droppings.

These are the main findings of Sara Liotta’s ‘How Clean Is Your Pillow?’ project, which won the top prize at the Merck Millipore School Science competition in Cork over the weekend.

The judges praised the Carrignafoy Community College, Cobh, student’s innovative approach and the level of microbiological experimentation performed.

“It’s a fantastic project — many congratulations to the winner and her teachers,” said judging panel member Jeremy Glennon, head of the Analytical Chemistry Department at University College Cork.

“It’s a very relevant subject matter and the comprehensive research performed was clearly demonstrated. In overall terms it was an excellent presentation.”

Sara said she was curious about what bacteria may be present on pillows and how this may affect human health. She devised a number of experiments and tested a variety of pillows for bacteria.

She swabbed pillows with an inoculation loop, streaked the samples onto agar plates, and grew the bacteria before researching the micro-organisms on it.

The findings prompted Sara to issue some pillow hygiene advice last night.

“I would urge people to use latex or memory-foam pillows as these materials stop the growth of mould, fungus and dust mites,” said the successful student.

“I also recommend that pillows should be washed at least three times a year and replaced every two years.”

Her work helped her to scoop the top award in the Merck Millipore School Science competition. She won a trophy and an iPad Mini for herself, as well as a PC and printer for her school.

She beat competition from students of six other schools across East Cork, whose projects ranged from the science behind rugby goal-kicking to the Golden Ratio and the Deadly Diet.