And this is why I'm in utter disbelief when parents protect their children so much as to not let them play in the dirt and sandboxes and such.

I'm wary of what people will start doing to their kids once this passes through the telephone game of science reporting -> MSM -> well-meaning parents following 'cutting-edge' parenting techniques.

My friend the professional immunology researcher often expresses her disbelief at how parents try to protect their kids from dirt. Also, Nature isn't really the MSM.

I know - the next step is CNN.com (or whatever) "Scientists say you should keep your kids as dirty as possible" then you have, I don't know, parents smearing pig shit over babies or something. You get the idea.

I knew growing up in a third world country would come in handy for me some day.

Its surprising to me this is news.

The news is not that it happens, but that they have discovered how it happens - or at least, a possible way, since the experiment was done in mice.