meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Flash Forward

Micro But Mighty

Flash Forward

Flash Forward Presents

Science

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2016

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today we travel to a future where your microbiome becomes a key part of your identity. From health to your child’s kindergarten, here are all the ways knowing about your microbiome might impact your life. Let’s start with a definition: what is the microbiome? Simply put, the microbiome is the collection of microbes (mostly bacteria) that live in and on your body. It’s hard to say exactly how many microbes make up the human microbiome, but researchers estimate that somewhere between 500 and 1,000 different species of bacteria live in the human gut. And that’s just the gut, there are microbial communities in our mouths, on our skin, in the vagina, all over the place. To put things in another perspective, the average human body is made up of 30 trillion cells. And on top of those 30 trillion cells, the average human also carries around in and on it, 40 trillion bacteria. 40 Trillion! To learn how those 40 trillion cells might be leveraged in the future, we talked to Ed Yong, the author of the upcoming book I Contain Multitudes; Rachel Feltman, a science blogger at the Washington Post; and Jessica Richman, the cofounder and CEO of uBiome, a personal microbiome company. The three of them walk us through the pros, cons and surprising ways the microbiome might be used in the future. The microbiome is a really promising area of research because it seems to interact with so many elements of our health. People are studying links between the microbiome and everything from autism to heart disease to body odor to cancer. But the gap between what we know right now, and what we’d need to know to develop microbiome based treatments for most of these things, is huge. Right now there are no drugs on the market that are based on the microbiome, and there’s really only one microbiome related medical application that reliably works. And that’s for patients with an infection called Clostridium difficile or c. diff who get a fecal transplant. The c. diff infection is awful, and it totally ravages the guts of those infected with it. A jolt of health bacteria, in the form of donated fecal matter, can be life saving. While the gut microbiome might get all the glory, there are lots of other microbiomes that impact our wellbeing as well. Doctors are trying to figure out whether children born by C-section might miss out on some crucial microbes that other children get when they pass through the vaginal canal. One recent study actually used wet wipes with the mother’s vaginal microbes on them on newly C-sectioned babies to see if it helped. There are concerns about that method too though. Of course with any promising scientific breakthrough there will be people trying to apply it to pretty much everything. In the episode we talk about what happens when certain microbes start getting connected to talent or personality, or associated with negative traits. We’ve already seen that with genetic information, so why not microbial? This week we also bring a new segment to the show! I play a few voicemails that listeners sent about mosquitoes from last week. I really loved the funny and thoughtful messages you sent me so keep telling me what you think! I’ll feature them each week. Call us and leave a voicemail at (347) 927-1425. Or, send a voice memo to info@flashforwardpod.com. For instructions on how to do that, go here. And you don’t just have to tell us what you think about this future. If you want to suggest a future, you can do that too! I love hearing your ideas, so keep sending them! Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Broke for Free. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Flash Forward. I'm Rose and I'm your host. Flash

0:07.7

Forward is a podcast about the future. Every week we explore a specific possible

0:12.2

or not so possible future scenario everything

0:14.5

from space pirates to antibiotic resistance. Every episode starts with a little

0:19.2

field trip to the future before we zip back to today to talk to experts about how that future might really go down.

0:25.0

Got it? Great. Let's start loss trick in the book sick of dieting and seeing no results?

0:45.2

Fed up with endless trips to the gym and no change in the scale, there has got to be a better way.

0:57.3

Well now there is, introducing BioMe, the very first personalized weight loss solution that really works. Biome's patented personal microbiotechnology will get you the results you deserve without having to give up your favorite foods or spend hours in the gym.

1:08.0

Simply send us a few easy samples of your microbial world and will formulated treatment just for you.

1:13.0

And now if you call in the next 20 minutes you can get two months of Biome for the price of one.

1:18.0

Call now, deals like this don't last. Hi, welcome to Doerrline. Can I get you some water? We have sparkling or

1:37.6

ultra filtered? No, okay, okay, let's go on a tour. I'm so glad you came by to

1:41.3

to see the school. It's so important to really

1:43.2

understand what we do here so you can make the best choice for your little genius.

1:47.6

The kids here get the very best educational experience. We combine an inquiry-based

1:51.8

learning program with a wholly custom microbiome to activate every student's inner good genius.

1:58.0

We believe that under the right conditions every child can thrive wholly through inquiry, a healthy environment, and intellectual courage.

2:05.1

Our application process is really simple.

2:06.7

We just, once little Burton is born, we just need a doctor to swab him for the micro biome sample

2:12.1

and then just send it to us.

2:13.0

They know how to do it.

2:14.0

You just say, just say that you're applying to do it.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Flash Forward Presents, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Flash Forward Presents and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.