So much for the five-second rule. Another urban mommy myth bites the big one. Seems anything that drops on the floor -- be it the cookie or the soother -- is contaminated long before those five seconds are up. According to the medical director of the infection prevention and control program at Loyola University Health System, Jorge Parada. "When it comes to folklore, the 'five-second rule' should be replaced with 'when in doubt, throw it out.'"

A recent microbiology study of the office has gone further than any other and provided a path for the improvement of the quality of life in the office environment. The team swabbed offices in three major American cities and found the usual suspects -- fecal bacteria, skin bacteria -- but also identified 500 other types of microbes...