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