As it gets colder in the area, Chicagoans of various legal drinking ages will like be looking for ways to inbibe without venturing out.  Perhaps, a nostalgic match of beer pong amongst friends?

This word of caution, however:

(Original Photo: Popular Science/Sara Chodosh)

Your beer pong cup is teaming with bacteria.  Yum.

Popular Science conducted an experiment to see how much yucky stuff existed before and after a game on various surfaces:  the ball, the table, the gross washing cup (!), among others.  Turns out while those surfaces tested fine, the beer cups themselves had the biggest change in bacteria.  Their working theory in the matter points to the people transferring the microbes via their hands and mouth.  You can read the entire study here.

Oh, and don’t think for one instance that the alcohol in your beer “sanitizes” things.  They also point out that while most beers are 5-10% ABV, an alcohol solution of 70% is needed to sanitize surfaces in laboratories.

Happy drinking!