From the November 2005 National Geographic; by Joel Achenbach
"...
Most of our cells aren't even human. If you had to count all the cells in your body, the vast majority--by a factor of ten--would be microbes.
...
Strangely enough, we don't know the identities of most of these microbes. We haven't figured out how to culture them. Instead, scientists 'grow' snippets of DNA, and have come to the conclusion that each one of us hosts somewhere between 500 and 1000 species of microbes,
...
What's clear is that the microbes are not a bunch of invaders. Rather, we co-evolved. A human body is like a complex ecosystem--a biosphere, almost.
...
[This is] a 'strategic alliance,' a symbiosis between mammals and microbes that goes back millions of years.
"...
Most of our cells aren't even human. If you had to count all the cells in your body, the vast majority--by a factor of ten--would be microbes.
...
Strangely enough, we don't know the identities of most of these microbes. We haven't figured out how to culture them. Instead, scientists 'grow' snippets of DNA, and have come to the conclusion that each one of us hosts somewhere between 500 and 1000 species of microbes,
...
What's clear is that the microbes are not a bunch of invaders. Rather, we co-evolved. A human body is like a complex ecosystem--a biosphere, almost.
...
[This is] a 'strategic alliance,' a symbiosis between mammals and microbes that goes back millions of years.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 12:54 pm (UTC)Theres some kind of special message in that, but I'm unsure of what it is. I do know that I like it, though.
Lets just hope that my inhabitants don't develop with the apathy towards their ecosystem that we have.