10% Human. How Microbes Control Humans

'Each of us is only 10 percent human,' says Collen. For every cell that makes up our body, there are nine 'deceptive' cells that infiltrate our organism 'without tickets'. These 'passengers' are bacteria and fungi. In the intestines alone, several trillion microorganisms live: they grow in the labyrinths of our body, like coral reefs. Microorganisms inhabit not only the internal organs of a person: for example, there are more of them on the skin of a fingertip than there are inhabitants in an average-sized European country. Since science discovered the existence of microbes, the attitude towards them has changed from indifferent to negative. Few people have thought about the fact that the natural microenvironment needs protection. But 100 trillion microbes would never be able to survive in the human body if they did not bring tangible benefits to it. Today, biologists and doctors have come to a unanimous opinion that our life is inseparably linked to the existence of our 'partners'. Interaction with microbes has become the driving force of the evolutionary game 1.2 billion years ago, when living beings consisting of more than one cell appeared. Microbes actually control our body. 'Alanna Collen is an evolutionary biologist, doctor of science, graduate of Imperial College London. At the age of twenty-two, she went to the Krau Nature Reserve in West Malaysia, where she studied bats and returned with a severe infection. Antibiotic treatment saved her life, but caused serious disruptions in the microflora of her body. This fact of her personal biography made Collen change the direction of her scientific interests and devote herself to the study of the human 'micro-world'. Thus, the book '10% Human. How Microbes Control Humans' was born.