Tuesday, January 22, 2013

750,000,000,000,000

Big numbers!

“We have ten times more visiting microbes in our bodies than human cells, and there are about seventy-five trillion human body cells.”

Visiting? I’m pretty sure the majority of microbes in our bodies are no less visitors than I am a visitor to America. The land itself may not have created me, but I’ve never lived anywhere else.

“Many of the bacteria that live inside of us are very friendly. … Mice reared without any germs in their bodies never fully develop their intestines.”

Microbial life was the original life on Earth. It is still the dominant form. One might say we are an extracurricular project of microbes.

source of quotes: That’s Disgusting: unraveling the mysteries of repulsion by Rachel Herz

No comments: