From Cosmos Magazine, September 5-9, 2016. (Photo: Lactobacillus casei by AJC1 via Flickr) Not a day goes by without some new study proclaiming the importance of our microbes to our health. It’s hard to keep up, and hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, the mildly interesting association from the water-tight causal link. I recently wrote … Continue reading
We are not alone. Each of us is teeming with bacteria and other microbes. From the soles of our feet to the follicles on our head — and every crevice in between — trillions of microbes form specialized ecosystems collectively known as our microbiota. The microbes that live on and in us outnumber our own … Continue reading
Intestinal cells communicate with probiotic gut microbes for a healthy immune system The human body is swarming with bacteria and other microbes that outnumber our own cells by more than ten to one. From the soles of our feet to the follicles on our head and every crevice in between, trillions of microbes form specialized … Continue reading
Each of us is home to a complex ecosystem of microbes that took up residence on or in us as soon as we emerged from our mother’s womb. In fact, our passage to the outside world — whether via vaginal birth or C-section — makes a significant contribution to the bacteria, fungi and viruses that … Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago I recorded a piece for Ockham’s Razor, a program that airs on Radio National in Australia. I’ve written about fecal transplants before (for Cosmos online, and the The Conversation), but radio is possibly my all-time favourite medium for learning about… well, stuff… anything, really. So, I pitched the poo story … Continue reading
The world of ecology has just got a whole lot more interesting. Instead of delving deeper into the uncharted waters of our oceans, or the dark recesses of the world’s rainforests, scientists have turned their focus inwards, to the ecology of microbes lurking in the nooks and crannies of our own bodies. Incredibly, bacterial cells … Continue reading
