1/29/14
2013 was quite the year in new microbial research. There was a treasure trove of information that scientists uncovered this past year, one of those things being that we as humans are basically made up of microbes. These little guys make up over 90% of our whole, the other 10% is devoted to human cells. These microbes often work symbiotically with their hosts in order to benefit both parties. Scientists also discovered that everyone is unique in what microbe mix they contain. There are many factors that make them different from each other such as diet and environmental variations. There is also research on why sick people, or those with weaker immune systems get sick so often. It's due to an increased level fungus/bacteria found on the skin. More studies showed that gut microbes can be directly linked to autism, mice with different mixes of gut microbes than that of regular mice showed signs of autism. All these discoveries and more are what 2013 had is store for scientists, and that is wonderful information. All these messages linked together perfectly and provided tons of new information for the masses to know about this research. It is also nice to know that we have mostly nice microbes that live on us rather than bad, I've always had the impression that most of them were bad little guys my entire life. Some questions that I had for the author were mostly that of "Did scientists find anything else out?" "Are there microbes we didn't even know existed that we are now finding under the microscope?" Only time will tell if we find out more information. Lets hope that 2014 brings a lot more new discoveries about the tiniest members of society.
Picture: http://www.microbiologyonline.org.uk/themed/sgm/img/modules-inline/3.3_disease.jpg
Like technology, microbes, bacteria, and viruses are starting to be a major talk in society. As technology becomes more advanced, it gives a scientist an edge to new discoveries. If it was possible to go back fifteen to twenty years ago. One wouldn’t be able to see all the scientific discoveries of microbes that we have today. Some events ten years ago, going to a time frame where sickness was an issue. Bacteria was mistaken by for a virus years after. All the help of course being that technology is getting more advanced as we speak. Interesting to note, is when you commented on the fact that most microbes that make up our body are harmless, there are others that can be harmful. Yet if we take the bad microbes out of the equation, than that means most of the helpful microbes that help us survive will die. As you mentioned time will tell.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a bummer that microbes, despite being a major reason for our existence, are barely receiving recognition in the recent years. The cause of many things relate to microbes. What we know about life is becoming very small (GET IT?) and very broad as we gain more and more knowledge. More and more questions derive. In both articles I've wrote about, each were tests on mice and their gut microbes. It's weird how studies vary on different intentions and fields, but lead back to revolve around gut microbes. Science and it's weirdly, cool ways. Time is all and we need and hope for to better understand life and everything in it.
ReplyDeleteNice pun Kaelyn! How true that all this research raises more questions.
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