(Our happy hour fact to amaze your pub-going pals with.)

Getting dirty helps a child's skin heal from cuts and inflammations.

In the latest confirmation of the "hygiene hypothesis," which states that exposure to different kinds of germs during childhood helps the body fight off allergies and other aliments, researchers at University of California at San Diego discovered that otherwise harmless bacteria found in dirt interrupts the process of skin inflammation.

Many scientists believe children in more developed countries are kept too clean by their parents, and that this accounts for the recent jump in childhood allergies in these regions.

With this latest finding, we're just one broccoli-causes-cancer study away from all of our childhood complaints being completely vindicated.