We touch our phones some 2,617 times a day (yep, that includes every swipe and tap). We take them with us everywhere: Bathrooms, gyms, subways, and buses. They’re like an extra limb or appendage.

And while most of us think to clean doorknobs, faucets, or anything else in contact with our hands, we rarely think of our iPhones and Androids.

Between wet toilet seats and those mysterious crumbs in your seat, aeroplane hygiene, well, leaves a lot to be desired.

We've all been taught to wash our hands after using the restroom. But do we really need to? Let's take a look at the science.

Germs, like you and I, enjoy the warm and slightly moist embrace of a bath towel. (Hey, if it isn't moist when you first put it on, it gets moist.) But these germs are just here to cuddle; normal use of a bath towel is not likely to make you sick.

There's no magic force field that holds back germs while you shout "five-second rule!" and scoop up your dropped cured meat. Duh, right? Here's how you can prove it.

There are actually several types of bacteria that can cause necrotising fasciitis, which is the more accurate name for this condition. "Necrotising" means that the cells in your body's flesh are dying off; "fasciitis" means the result is inflammation of some connective tissues known as fascia.

When you meet up with a colleague or friend, greetings typically involve some form of physical contact. Be it a handshake, high-five or good ol' fashioned hug, all of them can be pretty dangerous during flu season.

This awesome, I mean disgusting, Petri plate is covered in microbes collected inside a Dyson hand dryer. The photo is grossing out plenty of folks on Facebook, but it doesn't mean that hand dryers should be #outlawed.

After a particularly rough battle with the flu earlier this year, I've gotten pretty obsessive about watching what I touch in public places. I also carry around antibacterial wipes whenever I fly (a habit I've had for years), and immediately wipe down my tray table, seatbelt, and armrest as soon as I take my seat on a plane. As it turns out, I should probably be paying more attention to what I'm touching in the actual airport before I board.

If you need a really last minute gift, try this nerdy card game you can print on card stock and play today. Gut Check, designed by microbiome researcher David Coil, pits your microbes against opponents': you can contract infections, take probiotics and watch antibiotic resistant genes spread through the population.

The lemon wedge in your drink has a bad reputation, and the evidence for it seems obvious: No one at a restaurant washes the outside of a lemon, but then they throw that wedge onto your glass, sometimes letting the rind soak right in the drink. And according to HuffPost, several studies found all kinds of germs on lemon wedges from bars and restaurants.

So should your drink order always include "No lemon, please"?

Meat is not for everyone. If you didn't grow up in a meat-eating household, or if you're a former vegetarian, cooking it can seem a little daunting. It is, however, not that hard to cook, but there are some common concerns people have when they first embark down the path of cooking animals.

You wipe your kitchen sponge all over the grossest things in your sink, so it makes sense that it would accumulate some pretty gross bacteria. But is it possible to clean or sanitise that sponge? Yes, it turns out -- but only as a short-term fix.

"I want eggs, Mummy," is one of those phrases that will snap me out of whatever I'm doing and get me running to the kitchen. By the time my four-year-old says that out loud, he'll already have raw eggs in his hands. And if I'm not fast enough, they will be on the floor too. "I sorry, Mummy."

The cool, glistening waters of public pools are certainly seductive on a hot summer day. But if they're not properly maintained and treated, these public pools spread germs that can cause unpleasant illnesses and ruin the fun. Here's what you need to know to stay safe (and cool) in a public pool.

If you are the type of lazybones who, rather than washing their coffee cup after each use, simply pours fresh coffee over the evaporated residue of yesterday's cup, I have good news for you. You don't actually need to wash your coffee cup every day.

It may be convenient to keep your favourite coffee mug in the office kitchen, but cleaning it there actually does more harm than good. Here's why you should bring that mug home and give it a thorough cleaning as often as you can.

Skin infections like MRSA and other illnesses can easily spread in gym and locker room settings. You probably already know to wash up after hitting the gym, but pay special attention to washing your hands. It's no fun to come down with something avoidable during your pursuit of health.

Doctors and nurses aren't the only ones that need to worry about carrying disease-causing bacteria on their hands. As a patient, you should wash your hands too.