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urbpanFrom 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.
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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.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 01:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 02:32 pm (UTC)This was part of the evidence he gave against the germ theory of disease. With that much bacteria in our bodies, including E. Coli and everythign else, how can a few new citizens through the whole system out of whack if everything else is in order? "I would suck the nose of a person with ebola!" he once said. He did routinely do other gross things to prove that he would not get sick.
I don't think he's totally right; HIV probably has SOMETHING to do with causing AIDS and so on, but I think he has a good point.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 02:38 pm (UTC)Seems pretty wacky for a high school teacher.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 04:06 pm (UTC)I hope you don't mind, but I posted this info on the Buddhists (http://www.livejournal.com/community/buddhists) community. We've had a lot of discussions about how humans relate to other species lately, and I thought it would be really good for generating some interesting ideas about it all.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 11:19 pm (UTC)"Hurricane Dove wiped out 100,000,000,000 fifteen seconds ago. More updates as they arrive."
no subject
Date: 2005-10-21 03:36 am (UTC)I think of ecosystems as fractals. As you zoom in or out, you see a complex web of relations.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-21 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-22 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-22 12:54 pm (UTC)Apparantly this is a spoof of www.discovery.org, and the actual Discovery Instutute, though wacky, does not oppose the germ theory. They are also into Cascadian unity, which reminds me of this amusing site: http://zapatopi.net/cascadia/
I never really managed to find an organization that quite embodied the critique of germ theory that Mr. Davis the bio teacher espoused. But if you've ever seen or read The Road To Wellville about Kellogg and those old crazies, I think he's definetly coming out of the same tradition. I thought that was about the funniest movie EVER...