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Podcast: The Future of Everything
Episode: Michael Fischbach: Making sense of the gut biome
Description: The bacteria of the human digestive system have been likened to tiny factories that ingest raw materials — food — and processing them into finished products — nutrients — that our bodies can absorb and use.
In fact, many of the complex carbohydrates and proteins critical for life cannot be absorbed unless first digested by bacteria. Yes, we may all be stardust, but not, it seems, before we are microbial excrement.
Scientists refer to this complex community as the “gut biome,” a stew of hundreds, perhaps thousands of species of bacteria that live in the human gastrointestinal tract. Like many communi...