I Contain Multitudes

I Contain Multitudes will make you smarter and healthier by teaching you about the tiny ecosystems of microbes that live inside your body and on everything you see and by showing you how they affect your life and how to utilize them to improve your well-being.

Did you know that if the earth’s 4.5 billion years of existence were a calendar year, humans would show up for the last 30 minutes of December 31st? Microbes, on the other hand, would have been around since March. Microbes have been around for a very long time. And though we don’t realize it, they shaped the world as we know it today.

They may be tiny, but they play a vital role in breaking down molecules all around us. Microbes break down our soil and enrich it, allowing both carbon and nitrogen to complete their environmental cycles.

They also played an important role in the sky, too. Microbes were actually the first to use photosynthesis or using sunlight for energy. When they ate the sugar created by photosynthesis, they released oxygen, which helped create our atmosphere. This process also paved the way for the carbon cycle.

You can find microbes just about anywhere on earth, from a 400-degree volcano to under the ice of Antarctica. This is thanks to their ability to evolve rapidly. Because they are single-celled, they actually have the ability to transfer pieces of DNA to each other and add them to their genome.

You probably know someone who is really grossed out when it comes to germs and goes to extremes to keep things clean. But if you really want to stay healthy, there are some things you need to learn about microbes and your immune system. Your immune system can be compared to a thermostat that needs to stay at an ideal setting. If your “immunostat” is set too low, you will only react to bigger things and ignore smaller bugs. This way, you run the risk of getting an infection if it lets something by that isn’t so docile. On the other hand, if it’s set too high, you may begin to react to everything that comes your way. Your immune system will react to something harmful like pollen or even attack its own cells. This will cause allergies or autoimmune disorders. The right amount of exposure to microbes will help you calibrate your immune system to the best setting. Unfortunately, the way we live now has started to minimize that natural exposure of the past, which is why we see things like allergies on the rise. This exposure is most important in early childhood, where in the past kids were exposed to dirt and dust. Now…