LIFE ON US - Part 2: “Superhuman” (from CuriosityStream.com)

Trillions of organisms have evolved to share us; worms in our bowels, bacteria on our teeth, fungi in our lungs, and viruses embedded in our dna; this is our “Microbio.” 

We have done so much to try to “clean” ourselves, that we are doing more damage than good; first, our teeth has declined; oral decay is of plague proportions affecting 90% of children worldwide.  “Its an epidemic of the modern age” – our ancestors didn’t brush their teeth, and yet, ancient skeletons found show almost perfect teeth; the closer to modern man we get, the worse condition the teeth are in on the skulls we find.  There are more than 100 million bacteria in a single drop of saliva, about 700 species; they form plaque on our teeth.  The microbes in our mouth protect us from the food we eat, which is acidic and would otherwise ruin our teeth; its called “biofilm.”  It is actually used to heal the teeth; by looking in the fossilized plaque of our ancestors, we found that bacteria changed with the introduction of flour and sugar into our diets.  There is now more bad bacteria than good in our mouths.

One bacteria that lives in our stomach, commonly called the “gastric demon” is Helocabacta Pilori, and it causes stomach cancer and stomach ulcers in some people; however, almost everyone has this bacteria and it is relatively harmless.  It also possibly prevents asthma, but we don’t know quite how yet; testing is being done for vaccines, using this bacteria.  Worms, another common parasite in the human stomach, are introduced through many of the foods we eat, particularly meats.  Microscopic views of these creatures are really frightening; and they can also be either bad or good.  Hookworms are being used as a therapy for Crone’s and Siliac disease; turns out, its saliva has immuno-supressive properties and proteins that help calm the digestive system.

In our stool, there are more bacteria by ten times, than in the rest of our body; these bacteria in our gut help control our brain, our immune system, our overall health, our mood and our body shape.  Believe it or not, “fecal transplants” are being performed to transfer bacteria from a healthy person’s gut into the gut of an unhealthy person, providing them with the defenses they need to develop a healthy bowel.  This technique has been known to CURE multiple sclerosis!  It has even seemed to help with depression.

Firmicutis is a bacteria that absorbs fat from the body; it can work on hyperdrive, or be lazy, and this affects your body shape.  Akkermansia is a bacteria for that helps with weight-loss, and may soon be used medicinally for obese individuals.  We need to remember, when we eat, we are feeding our microbes; if we feed those that make us sick, we feel sick.  The rise in diseases that we are experiencing, it seems, is being caused by the fact that we have sterilized water and sterilized food now, which is making our immune system weak. 

Retro-viruses, which have found their way into our dna, can replicate and live on for years; occurring only once in a million years, one is unfolding right now.  The koala, in Austrailia, have developed a retro-virus, which is killing off many with a lymphoma or leukemia-type sickness.  We ourselves are littered with the remains of these types of ancient battles; 89% of our dna is a result of retro-viruses.  Even the most basic process of our development is a consequence of this trick, allowing mother and fetus to “fuse together through the placenta.”  Microbes have, in fact, defined our evolution!  Amazing.

Reference:

CuriosityStream. (2014). Information summarized from: https://app.curiositystream.com/series/237; https://app.curiositystream.com/video/1415;  https://app.curiositystream.com/video/1416

LIFE ON US - Part 1: “Private Wildlife” (from CuriosityStream.com)

A recent scientific study, looking for bacterium in people’s belly-buttons, tested 60 subjects, and found over 2,300 different types of bacteria.  The amazing thing was that no one, single bacteria was found in all 60 individuals, but everyone had some form of bacteria or another living in their belly-buttons; some had hundreds of different types, while others had as little as six types.  Oddly, the people who had the LEAST amount of bacteria in their belly-button, had the poorest health.

Much like the needed biodiversity of our earth, we need a large variety of bacterium to guard our human ecosystems; on average, there are more than one billion bacteria on every square centimeter of an average human being.  We provide a food supply for them, as we loose 30-40 thousand dead skin cells every hour.  Bacteria fight each other and fight things that harm us; Bacillus Subtilis “patrol our skin, looking for fungi to attack” – if it wasn’t for them, we would end up covered in mold!  Staphylococcs Epidermidis, a common skin bacteria, however, colonizes so quickly sometimes, it takes over an entire area, as we all know.  The key is communication… yes, communication between bacteria; they have learned to “connect” and work together to allow the most beneficial or least competitive bacteria to live together in one area, building alliances “to outsmart invaders.”  Additionally, bacteria can change their genomes easily; this can be both good and bad.  A former rival bacteria can become cooperative and benefit its host, and a simple skin bacteria can become deadly in an instant.  One bacteria, Streptococcus (which normally only causes a sore throat), can turn into a flesh-eating disease which can kill within twelve hours!

One brain parasite, Toxo Plamsa, also called the “Zombie Bug” needs to reproduce inside of a cat’s gut, specifically; so it gets inside of mice, from the field, and causes the mouse to lose it’s fear of cats.  In fact, it causes it to be attracted to cats, enticing cats to eat the mouse, so it can reproduce.  This is one of the most common human brain parasites.  It affects as many as 55% of the population in countries where eating rare meat is common.

A little mite, called Demodex Folliculorum, generally lives in our eyelash pores; they come out at night and crawl on our face, and have sex and eat, and we never even know it.  They are transparent, and eat the oils and microbes in our pours; and probably have a little ecosystem of their own in their gut.  Testing has been done to compare mites between individuals; one mite was filmed (under the microscope) giving birth!  Unfortunately for them, a mite has no anus, and dies when its gut becomes impacted.

Common head lice, Pediculus Humanus Capitis, are louse that only survive by hanging onto its host by the hair; they have been around for 130 million years as far as we can tell. A blood-sucking parasite, there are 5,000 species of louse in total; they cannot walk, crawl or fly, only jumping from one host to another.  It is thought that these particular parasites are one reason that humans evolved with less hair on our bodies, reducing the risk from disease from these parasites.  Contrary to popular belief, public lice are NOT the same as head lice, as their claws are much different for holding onto courser hair; scientists suspect that our ancestors actually picked up this louse from the ancestors of gorillas long ago, in some type of close encounter between the two.  Interesting, huh?

Reference:

CuriosityStream. (2014). Information summarized from: https://app.curiositystream.com/series/237; https://app.curiositystream.com/video/1415;  https://app.curiositystream.com/video/1416

I Just Want You to Know Who I Am

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