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Scientists say a new, alternative way of greeting and showing respect is more hygienic than shaking hands. Sports players do it after someone scores and actors do it onstage at awards ceremonies. It's fist bumping - like a high five, except the hand is closed into a ball and nudges another person's fist using the knuckles. Researchers say it spreads one-twentieth of the germs than a handshake does and one-tenth of the germs in a high five.

American motorcycle gangs started the fist bump in the 1940s. It was easier and safer than shaking hands at traffic lights. President Obama and his wife Michelle fist bumped during a televised presidential campaign speech in 2008. There is less skin contact with a fist bump so there is less chance of spreading germs. A researcher said we rarely think about germs when shaking hands. Fist bumping could lower the risk of spreading diseases.