As with most things, advances in technology have continued to improve hygiene and sanitation: Think touchless toilets, self-cleaning commodes and a host of other high-tech amenities in the bathroom.

In addition to the obvious benefits of cleanliness, a renewed emphasis on sustainability has made many public bathrooms much more efficient. But new research on one of the most common and practical contraptions we use in public restrooms — hand dryers — gives us reason to pause.

Study says hand dryers are blowing bacteria everywhere: Truth or hot air?

A recent study published by researchers from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Applied and Environmental Microbiology shows that some hand dryers in public bathrooms are actually spraying us up and down with bacteria.

As we well know, this bacteria could include some particularly nasty stuff, from fecal matter to spores and pathogens. The research says that rather than dissipating in the wind, much of this bacteria is getting dispersed around buildings and other public places we venture into.

Using special plates, researchers pulled the results from multiple men’s and women’s bathrooms around their campus. Included in their yucky-stuff haul was a bacterium often found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and grass-eating animals.

• Wiping baseboards clean
• Buffing mirrors and/or bathroom fixtures and door knobs
• Removing the ring inside the toilet (unless you have one of those self-cleaning ones)