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DAILY SCIENCE FIX - MICROBIOME - Are we more than ourselves?
April 28, 2009, 12:56AM

Are we more than ourselves...?

The Human Microbiome Project...ever heard of it?  Well you should be
aware of it, because even in the 21st century we still have almost no
idea of what is living inside of us.  What we do know is that:

It is estimated that 500 to 1000 species of bacteria live in the human
gut.[2] Bacterial cells are much smaller than human cells, and there
are at least ten times as many bacteria as human cells in the body
(approximately 1014 versus 1013).[3][4] Though members of the flora
are found on all surfaces exposed to the environment (on the skin and
eyes, in the mouth, nose, small intestine), the vast majority of
bacteria live in the large intestine.

I believe that the solutions to many of the modern epidemics of
illnesses and allergies can be traced to disrupting the balance of the
organisms living within us.  As we learn that the environment around
us is actually a part of us and us a part of it, we should not, indeed
must not, forget to look inward and see the same relationship.  There
are communities of organisims called superorganisms, that act as a
single unit and the community itself can be subject to natural
selection and evolution.  Ants and Bees are among the best known, but
humans too are superorganisms.

From the NY Times last year:

The dawning realization is this: You are not just your genetic self.
You are a community of interacting organisms. This You ecosystem
includes the bacteria that outnumber your genetic cells by 10 to 1,
various fungi, viruses and just maybe a few parasites as well. Disturb
or remove any key player, and the whole system can come unbalanced.

What is going on inside us?  What happens when we take antibiotics?
Are we doing more harm than good?  Does what we eat, where we live,
the pollution and chemicals we are exposed to affect our microbiome?
You can bet they do.

But knowing whats living inside of us and how it interacts with us,
when coupled with a deeper understanding of genetics and epigeneitcs,
will ultimately redefine our concept of what is life.  And that could
change everything.

Stay Tuned...