Bright Ideas | The Law is an . . .

• The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company AOBiome believes we have dangerously stripped "good bacteria" from our skins via "excessive cleaning" and has introduced for sale "Mother Dirt" spray to add it back. Chemical engineer and co-founder Dave Whitlock told WBZ-TV in September that he personally has "not taken a shower in over 12 years," but instead uses his odorless bacteria-restoring mist twice a day to cover himself with helpful "dirt" that activates the "good" bacteria. The company will soon begin clinical trials to demonstrate whether Mother Dirt (which also comes in shampoo form) can additionally improve certain skin conditions. [WBZ-TV (Boston), 9-4-2015]

•Cormega Copening, 17, and his girlfriend Brianna Denson, 16, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, are old enough to have sex ("adults," according to state law) but apparently too young to exchange nude photos. Copening was charged with five counts of "sexual exploitation" -- for receiving "sexts" from Denson and having nude photos of himself on his phone (i.e., "exploiting" himself). Denson accepted a lesser sentence and is serving a tedious, restrictive probation; she had also been charged with self-exploiting. After much criticism for threatening felony charges and sex-offender registration, prosecutors offered Copening a similar tedious, restrictive probation in September. [Fayetteville Observer, 9-12-2015; WRAL-TV, 9-11-2015]

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