The 5-Second Rule is scientifically false

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentScientists have ruled that the five-second rule is false, and I want everyone to sit down for this, because a long-standing family policy has been struck down.

2. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorPopular Science reports that researchers at Rutgers dropped watermelon, bread, bread and butter, and gummy candy on stainless steel, tile, wood and carpet.

3. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentFour foods, four surfaces. That's sixteen separate crime scenes, and the gummy candy didn't even get a lawyer.

4. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorIt's a floor and a snack, Kenji.

5. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThey ran about twenty-five hundred trials, and left the food down for one, five, thirty or three hundred seconds.

6. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentTwenty-five hundred trials. Somewhere there's a grad student who has watched a gummy bear hit the ground more than any human alive.

7. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSure, and in some cases bacteria moved onto the food in under one second.

8. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentUnder one second. The rule gave the bacteria a five-second head start and they showed up already finished.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorRutgers says it's no rule at all, though carpet transferred fewer bacteria than smooth surfaces, and wet or sticky food picked up more.

10. 

    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorMostly the news is that the floor wins.

11. 

    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorOur office has revised the policy. Effective immediately, the five-second rule is the zero-second rule, and it's called not dropping it.