Everyday we live with a community of bacteria that outnumber the cells in our bodies! On shelfs in the store you can find yogurt labelled with “live culture” and bottles of pro- and prebiotics, but what does this all mean? We’re diving in the microscopic world of our microbiome (biome means a community of living things).

In this first episode, we’re looking at the good, the bad, and the ugly of bacteria. Bacteria holds a pretty steady “it’s complicated” relationship with humans. Rachel’s going to tell about ways that we live with bacteria in a helpful way (our microbiome) and how we can be hurt by them (pathogens).

Resources

Interested in learning more from the Singing Microbiologist? Here’s a link to a YouTube post! (1) and (2).

In 2007, the NIH started a project to map the bacteria living on and with us. More information can be found here.