Slashdot Mirror
Are Human Beings Organisms Or Living Ecosystems?
Hugh Pickens writes "Every human body harbors about 100 trillion bacterial cells, outnumbering human cells 10 to one. There's been a growing consensus among scientists that bacteria are not simply random squatters, but organized communities that evolve with us and are passed down from generation to generation. 'Human beings are not really individuals; they're communities of organisms,' says microbiologist Margaret McFall-Ngai. 'This could be the basis of a whole new way of looking at disease.' Recently, for example, evidence has surfaced that obesity may well include a microbial component. Jeffrey Gordon's lab at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published findings that lean and obese twins — whether identical or fraternal — harbor strikingly different bacterial communities that are not just helping to process food directly; they actually influence whether that energy is ultimately stored as fat in the body. Last year, the National Institutes of Health launched the Human Microbiome Project to characterize the role of microbes in the human body, a formal recognition of bacteria's far-reaching influence, including their contributions to human health and certain illnesses. William Karasov, a physiologist and ecologist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes that the consequences of this new approach will be profound. 'We've all been trained to think of ourselves as human,' says Karasov, adding that bacteria have usually been considered only as the source of infections, or as something benign living in the body. Now, Karasov says, it appears 'we are so interconnected with our microbes that anything studied before could have a microbial component that we hadn't thought about.'"
as a human overlord to welcome our bacteria inhabitants
God's gift to chicks
Perhaps these are the midicloriens we have been looking for. Try to speak to them with your mind and see if you can make things move... (it only works for me in the bathroom when my concentration is at its highest and the accoustics are at their best)
Also, this brings another question to mind as well. Have our snooty English teachers been correct in using "we" in weird places? "How are we feeling today? Did we do our homework?" The ramifications are... spooky.
Finally, let's tell ALL the germaphobes out there! This hand-washing nut-cases are annoying! We can either break them of their phobias or finally kill them. Either way, their irrational fears will bug me no further. ("Clean" has it's place, but primarily when it has to do with food and equipment!)
As in the old jokes, where two planets meet:
- How's going?
- Bad... I got Mankind.
- Had it also. Not a big problem though, it goes away.
"2. alkalinity (such as drinking lemon juice in water)"
pH fail. (or "pHail" as the cool kids are saying these days)
2. alkalinity (such as drinking lemon juice in water)
I see sleeping through fourth-grade science's done wonders for you...
Just the excuse that I have been looking for to avoid having to hoover the carpets!
Is that what women are calling taking a bath nowdays?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Man walks into the doctors
-- Doctor, I can't stop sneezing!
-- You have the Sneazles, said the doctor, after having a quick look.
-- What about my bad feet?
-- A common case of Toelio, said the dismissive doctor.
The man dropped his pants
-- and this?
-- Ah, the doctor exclaimed, the Smallcox!
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.