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Your Feces Is a Wonderland of Viruses

Posted by timothy on from the and-so-can-you dept.

sciencehabit writes "Thanks to an anlaysis of fecal samples from four sets of Missouri-born female identical twins and their mothers, researchers have concluded that human guts harbor viruses as unique as the people they inhabit; the viral lineup differs even between identical twins. Even more surprising? These viruses may be doing good work inside of us."

2 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Evolution by dward90 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From my understanding of evolution, I think it would be more surprising if something we all have inside of us was doing something bad.

    --
    My other sig is clever.
    1. Re:Evolution by mldi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, our rapid development into sterile societies has backfired because of how we're wired due to evolution. At least that's the theory. Our bodies were built to battle a few parasites, at least in our youth, and the theory is that because we are so sterile anymore, our bodies are looking for something to attack... and since in modern countries the majority of the population is parasite-free, they attack us instead. Behold: autoimmune diseases!

      It's actually probably pretty good for us to get at least a little down'n'dirty as kids so our bodies don't go crazy attacking perfectly normal things as unwanted foreign bodies.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.