You are a super-organism!

[Cthogua]

The next time you pass some gas, remember its just your "gut bugs" saying hello!

The ever present armies of microbes in your digestive tract are so essential to your survival, a new study says, that you might consider yourself a super-organism—human plus microbes equals you. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060601-microbes.html)

[light]

They also hitch rides on chunks of undigested food, which researchers have nicknamed "whovilles," after the tiny villages in Dr. Seuss stories.

Wow...

[DavePalumbo]

By sampling two people's excrement

I'm sorry, I have to say it... talk about a shit job

[_Mario]

They are writing about that as if it's something new. Where have they been in the last century? I thought the National Geographic guys know a bit more about science than the average journalist.

[Kresh]

i thought i read orgasim...just goes to show what state of mind im always in.....i'm so dissapointed now.

[poise]

Hey Kresh I thought I read Orgasim too. ;) and I didn't think twice about checking this link, haha I'm such an animal.
Anyway this is really interesting. I kept on thinking About the Matrix, and the destroyer bug things, of course those are way too big, but I picture they look like that except microscopic. anyway cool find Cthoque. :)

[Wolfbane]

this is one nasty thread :S

[cartoonfox]

What's an "orgasim"?

Maybe it's like color...

[Tully]

No "I" in orgasm, people! :P </spelling geek>

That's really awesome though. Makes you wonder why people haven't been doing as much work on it until now. If there are 10 times more microbial cells in our bodies than human cells, you think it would've occured to somebody that studying them could lead to important info about how to keep us healthy.

[SirGreenSock]

No "I" in orgasm, people! :P
unless youre single...

[Cthogua]

Makes you wonder why people haven't been doing as much work on it until now. If there are 10 times more microbial cells in our bodies than human cells, you think it would've occured to somebody that studying them could lead to important info about how to keep us healthy.

I've always thought it was interesting that we were made up of all these parts we can't conciously control, and whom go about doing things as any other thing would in its natural environment. I'm surprised there isn't more (actually I'm sure there is I just haven't heard of it) study of societies and groups like cities as organisms. One entity, comprised of units normally considered "individual" yet working together in such a way as to be interdependant. Makes me also wonder about the levels of conciousness at various levels of organisation. If I remember my high school biology correctly arn't the mitochondria in our cells thought to have originally been symbiotic bacteria?