The Wild Life of Your Body
26 Jan 2011 3 Comments
We are so ignorant about our bodies and what lives on them that our observations, scant though they may be, have outpaced our theory. Just what microbes live on any given individual and why is not known. It is not even well speculated upon. Because we are just beginning, we are in that wonderful phase of science when radical hypotheses are not only hard to rule out, they are useful, necessary and oh so fun. If you have ideas about what governs the patterns from person to person and around the world in microbial composition, offer them here. As we move forward, we have the possibility to test not only the hypotheses we come up but also yours too. And so look at the microbes we have found so far, take your field notes and offer your hypotheses. With time, we will update the images her with data on which lineages are present in which belly. When we do, we can begin to test hypotheses. In the meantime, hypothesize away.
Note: Let’s stick to belly buttons for now. They are islandlike and so useful for thinking about general patterns, much like the Galapagos Islands. Yes, I just compared your belly button to a Galapagos Island.
Jan 26, 2011 @ 19:14:25
Just getting things started…Theory one: Perhaps individuals who wash with antibiotic body soaps kill some bacteria and favor just a subset of weedy, fast growing, microbes.
Jan 26, 2011 @ 20:28:11
I wonder if there is a correlation between population size (or content) and belly hair. I’ve noticed that some of my hairier friends are more likely to get belly button lint… would that be a contributing factor?
Jan 26, 2011 @ 20:38:30
I’m curious about geographic origin and associated patterns (that’s a “duh,” I know). Also about travel distance/method of transport among scio11 attendees. And possibly about overlap in bacterial communities among some of the denizens of my wing of the 4th floor during that conference. Ahem.
Other factors that come to mind (and have likely already come to your minds): diet (vegan? vegetarian? omnivore? strict carnivore? insectivore?…were there any of those donating?). Drinking alcohol or not? Age? Frequency of bathing? Choice of bathing process (shower vs bath)? Hot tubbers vs. not? Swimmers vs. not?
And how about the measure of innie-ness/outie-ness vs. growth or community profile?