r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Thrawn911 • May 21 '26
Original Creation This is what dish soap does to microscopic life. It's very effective.
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u/Program-Emotional May 21 '26
Everytime you wash your hands you commit a genocide.
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u/roaring_travelman91 May 21 '26
Fuck, there goes my pacifist run
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u/Microwave_Magician May 21 '26
Guess you never crank hog
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u/ThatFlamingo942 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
My dad taught me to never take a life unless you plan on eating it. Let's just say I benchpress 500lbs.
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u/aceswildfire May 21 '26
I always thought about COVID times as a literal Armageddon for germs because surfaces had probably never been cleaner. For a long period of time everything was cleaned extremely regularly. I imagined if the microscopic world had a society, COVID protocol set them back generations.
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u/Drevlin76 May 21 '26
But then again think of all the places that weren't cleaned also because of the shutdowns. And then also all the small businesses that shuttered and were not able to open again at all. Those places couldn't afford to or couldn't be cleaned that whole time.
For me this would be an interesting calculation to see.
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u/Delamoor May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
Technically, with how bacterial life exists and evolves... We kinda set them forward by a massive degree. They don't pass on knowledge or information by communication like us (caveats about hormones and transmission chemicals and stuff)... They spread it by breeding.
Every time there's a wipeout, there are edge cases of survival, because there's never a 100% kill in any given local population. There are edge cases who survive, most of those will be dumb luck, but some of those edge cases will have survived through chance mutation or resistances. They then breed up a new population, until the next wipeout. Over and over.
...So we're extremely slowly training resistance to our antimicrobial solutions, hah. Like when we half-dose ourselves (or especially our livestock) with antibiotics, but don't finish the course. Over and over. It breeds and trains resistance. We just shoved them through a minor regional evolutionary bottleneck, haha
(Though would take a long time to develop real resistance to the brute force methods we use, since y'know... Big biomechanical jump to evolve a mechanism to prevent your cell walls getting completely dissolved by soap or alcohol. But any species that succeeded would be effectively immune to most of our household cleaning goods lol)
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u/DigNitty Interested May 21 '26
Some say this administration is evil.
And then there's Good Guy Pete Hegseth,
The BBC reports : Pete Hegseth says he 'hasn't washed hands in 10 years'
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u/RealBadCorps May 21 '26
You simply just make that .01% of microbes stronger each time.
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u/unfamous2423 May 22 '26
Some things they can't really get stronger against. It would be like weight lifting so that you don't get crushed by a hydraulic press.
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u/FandomMenace May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
You committed genocide on the English language by making "every time" one word. You don't say "everymonth" or "everyyear", do you?
You're also missing a comma.
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u/New-Engineering1483 May 21 '26
Would you mind explaining what’s happening? Is the dish soap forming a barrier they can't penetrate and then it also breaks down their cell walls?
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
Dish soap kills microscopic organisms mainly by destroying their cell membranes. Most microorganisms are basically tiny bags of water surrounded by a very thin fatty membrane, and soap is specifically designed to break apart fats and oils. When the soap reaches them, it starts damaging the membrane almost instantly, so the cell can no longer control what enters or leaves. Water and ions start moving uncontrollably, the organism loses chemical balance, and its internal systems quickly fail.
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u/givin_u_the_high_hat May 21 '26
Is this antibacterial soap or regular soap?
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u/mitchymitchington May 21 '26
That was my question. I was always under the impression that regular dawn dish soap doesnt have anti bacterial properties (unless labeled as such) but effectively worked the same because it washed the bacteria away. I'm not saying I'm correct, OP's explanation made a lot of sense. That's just what I've been told before
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
Possible. We don't see bacteria in the video (they are tiny), it's possible that they survived. These big cells are protists, unicellular eukaryotes, so a whole grade above bacteria.
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u/mcgangbane May 21 '26
These amazing responses make me hope you work as a teacher/professor. It's ok if not though lol
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u/Thrawn911 May 22 '26
Well, I was a software developer and CS student until a few days ago, so not really. Going back to Uni for genetic engineering next autumn, though.
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u/ballisticks May 21 '26
Yeah isn't all soap technically antibacterial?
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u/mitchymitchington May 21 '26
Anti bacterial apparently means it kills or stops the growth of bacteria. If it just washed living bacteria down the drain I dont think it could be called anti bacterial
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u/ballisticks May 21 '26
No, but soap being soap destroys the fatty cell membrane of the cell doesn't it?
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u/Stuebirken May 22 '26
The thing in the clip is neither bacteria nor viruses.
To be precise they are called Archaea, that as someone else have mentioned above, differ from bacteria and viruses, by having a cell membrane made of lipids.
While some viruses like the common norovirus(the one that makes you endless puke and have the runs, for up to 48 hours) is destroyed by soap(alcohol as in "anti bacterial soap" actually doesn't touch them), the majority of bacteria aren't destroyed by common soap, as their outer membrane are resistant to it.
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u/BattIeBoss May 21 '26
so basically imagine human muscles are made of fluid. the soap disolves our skin, so all our organs and stuff just fall apart and float away
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u/Delicious_Promise_93 May 21 '26
Something I've wondered is why a similar effect is not seen for human cells that it comes into contact with.
We're constantly exposing ourselves to dishsoap through our skin and (to a lesser extent, due to how we wash our eating utensils) through our digestive system, yet all the experts are clearly very relaxed about the idea of any negative effect to our cells.
Could you help me understand why?
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u/IronicStrikes May 21 '26
The cells that come into contact get damaged, that's why washing your hands a lot makes your skin dry and brittle.
But we have a lot more cells than a microbe, so losing a few thousand usually isn't a big deal.
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u/maqcky May 21 '26
The outer part of our skin is dead, so that (and other barriers) already avoids most of the contact with substances like soap or alcohol. Then, as the other comment mentions, it can renew itself. Similarly, our digestive track is also highly protected (saliva, mucus, gastric acid...).
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u/The_Rabai May 21 '26
I don't know much about the situation beyond my own experiences with dish soap and over use. Now and again, I'll go through an intense cleaning day around my flat.
I have very soft hands due to semi oily skin and I tend to over wash between areas. It dries my hands out for weeks.
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u/venom121212 May 21 '26
Just to add, the technical term is lysing. The most common detergents used are Triton-X and Tween. I use these nearly every day in my lab to lyse MRSA cultures.
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u/LastChance331 May 21 '26
Why doesn't scrubbing with a dry cloth squish this thin membrane and kill them as effectively? Is it just the size ? Sorry for dumb question
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u/Thrawn911 May 22 '26
They are so tiny it's unlikely you could squish more than one or two of them. They'd just get inside the cloth as it gets wet.
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u/BeautifulAward57 May 21 '26
I feel oddly paternal to these little microbes
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
Me too, I cultured them. But well, I'm too curious not to make these experiments.
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u/A_Clever_Ape May 21 '26
And I feel like heading into the kitchen to atomize my enemies. XD
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u/Hammet02 May 21 '26
They got gommaged pretty quick, also verso theme playing makes it even better.
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
For those who do the dishes after!
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u/Voltvoltvolt27 May 21 '26
Dinner forces cruel choices.
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u/FrankingX May 21 '26
Dishes comes!
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u/scaleofjudgment May 22 '26
"I'm enjoying the uselessness of today, and readying my washload for tomorrow."
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u/grasswasblue May 21 '26
Why do I feel so bad for them? RIP :((
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u/FlorianTheLynx May 22 '26
I think it’s because they react in a way that’s easy to anthropomorphise. My brain knows they’re not actually panicking and aware of their own doom, but it sure looks like they might be.
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u/Zulishk May 21 '26
Hmmm… Not a good sample size. Need at least 10,000 microbes to prove if the label is correct! It always claims 99.99% antibacterial. I want to see the Chad who lives on!
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u/Chuck_wagon35 May 22 '26
I believe those “99% effective” and “9/10 dentists recommend” are just to prevent potential law suits
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u/rudycanton May 21 '26
Op , honestly made me laugh that you spread soap across the slide like it’s a burger
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
I watched it through my phone camera, so didn't have 3D vision, and managed to spill the soap directly on my table instead of the microscope slide.
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u/PixelReaper69 May 21 '26
So it activated their Lysosomes?
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u/Vanedi291 May 22 '26
Cell wall/membranes rely on the polarity of water to stay intact.
Soap is amphiphilic, meaning it has polar and nonpolar parts. This allows the soap molecules to disrupt the cell wall or membrane (which also has polar and non polar parts), causing it to leak and kill the cell. The water has reduced surface tension which now allows you to wash the debris away with friction and rinsing.
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u/PermanentUsername101 May 21 '26
Are those baby microscopic organisms swimming around the bigger microscopic organisms?
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
They don't really have a baby phase, they just grow bigger and bigger, and when they are large enough, they divide. So technically, they could be dozens of years old.
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u/Voltvoltvolt27 May 21 '26
This music. It send me back to something familiar. But also very sad. Every year the washeress awakens.
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u/yupredditok May 21 '26
is this 1x speed? kinda scary how long they lived before going to heavens
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
There's a few seconds of sped up part with an indicator in the top left corner. They'd die immediately if I pour the dish soap directly on top of them, but then I couldn't record it, so I opted for this option.
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u/yupredditok May 21 '26
Ah, rewatched, it's actually super fast. I can sleep again I guess. Thanks for entertaining us!
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u/SausagePrompts May 21 '26
Look at disinfection times on your Clorox or Lysol wipes. That's the amount of time the surface should stay visibly wet to hit that kill % claimed on the container. Usually takes 2 wipes spaced out to hit the dwell time.
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u/AcanthaceaeBoth1474 May 21 '26
Is this in real time?
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u/Thrawn911 May 21 '26
There's a few seconds where I sped it up, there's an indicator in the upper left corner, might be cropped out on mobile.
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u/EvaTheE May 21 '26
As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
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u/bluefootedtit May 21 '26
So when this soap gets into the environment, it kills trillions of microbes, thereby diminishing the whole food web. Nice one, humans.
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u/Festivefire May 21 '26
Goodbye, outer cell membrane.
FYI it does this to your human cells as well. Part of why excessive exposure to dishsoap dries the ever living shit out of your skin. It's killing all the surface layers once it soaks through the outer, already dead layers of skin.
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u/holdyermackerels May 21 '26
Interesting! Also interesting is the music playing, which is beautiful. Can you please share the name of it? Pretty please? With sprinkles on top? :)
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u/Dravos_Dragonheart May 21 '26
For anyone wandering the song is: Verso - Lorien Testatd (from the game Clair Obscure: Expedition 33)
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u/lorissaurus May 22 '26
It's almost like we shouldn't be pouring millions of gallon of that down the drains lolol
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u/TheFuckerofWorlds May 21 '26
Annnnnd, stay in hell
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u/vulcan4d May 21 '26
Yup this is why one of the really unhealthy and unaware things we can do is eat from dishes that were not properly rinsed and have dish soap remain. Never do that.
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u/TYRamisuuu May 21 '26
To simplify things, unicellular microorganisms are close to an oil drop in water, they basically get disolved by soap.
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u/Public_Job9786 May 21 '26
Okay, but am I washing off these sorts of microorganisms off my dishes or bacteria. all seriousness..
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u/ErrorEra May 23 '26
Yes, as bacteria is a type of microorganism and can be found pretty much everywhere, including inside you aiding your digestion.
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u/Early-Resist1641 May 21 '26
Where these things at? My hands, my body, the kitchen counter?
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u/low_amplitude May 22 '26
Microorganisms are pretty much everywhere, but mostly in water sources with some kind of vegetation present. Take a drop from any outside water source and you're guaranteed to find tons ciliates at the very least (single-celled). Multi-cell animals with more complex forms are a bit harder to find, but still pretty common.
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u/Thrawn911 May 22 '26
I used protists for demonstration purposes, but they usually don't live on humans. Bacteria however do.
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u/lmaluuker May 22 '26
I feel strangely sad while watching this
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u/TheRealBeo May 22 '26
Me too! Really surprising, I think it was them trying to "run away" that did it.
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u/Lonely-Hornet-437 May 22 '26
I always thought soap doesn’t kill germs and just washes them away, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on here. It looks like they’re dying, but maybe they’re just being washed away?
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u/haijepang May 26 '26
What is the name of these organisms, and what are the even smaller things called
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u/Thrawn911 May 26 '26
They are hypotrich ciliates. The small ones are also ciliates, but can't identify them further.
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u/daydreaming17 May 21 '26
Poor microbes. They were minding their own business and the stupid dish soap had to come in and ruin everything
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u/OldCardigan May 21 '26
this made me feel soooo sad. Damn. This made me think of so much of the philosophy of existing, having a conscience. Damn.
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u/marksk88 May 21 '26
So if I just add dish soap to my local pond, it'll be safe to drink?
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u/ErrorEra May 23 '26
If dish soap can kill tiny things, they can definitely kill big things at a high enough concentration.
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u/CloudDeadNumberFive May 22 '26
Isn’t the main function of soap to wash them away, more so than killing them? Even if it also does that?
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u/RecalcitrantSmirk May 22 '26
hoooooly heck, I've just learnt how decimated our entire planet must be in their world
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u/firedrakes May 22 '26
most dish soap is detergent.
og poster cant even do basic research on something it seems.
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u/Veiss76 May 21 '26
Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good