Our Microbes and Our Health
Discovery
BBC
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are a teeming mass of interconnected microbes and the impact of this microscopic universe on our health, our minds, even our moods, is profound.
Made in collaboration with Wellcome Collection, Claudia Hammond and an expert panel explore one of the fastest moving areas of science and what it means for modern medicine.
Recorded in front of a live audience at Wellcome’s Reading Room in London, Claudia discovers how our microbes could be harnessed to improve our mental and physical health.
And along with the scientific insights, there are important answers to questions everybody wants to know the answer to, such as why some peoples’ “emissions” smell so badly and how having a dog or cat enriches your microbiome.
On stage with Claudia are immunologist Professor Sheena Cruickshank from the University of Manchester, microbiologist Professor Glenn Gibson from the University of Reading and neuroscientist Professor John Cryan from University College Cork in Ireland.
Produced by: Fiona Hill and Elisabeth Tuohy Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles and Emma Hearth
Image: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of bacteria cultured from a sample of human faeces. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. |
| 0:03.6 | My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. |
| 0:08.1 | I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced |
| 0:12.2 | pundits and the biggest sport stars. |
| 0:14.3 | Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players' |
| 0:18.5 | mouths. |
| 0:19.5 | But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world. |
| 0:24.9 | What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to |
| 0:28.8 | dedicated sports fans across the UK. |
| 0:31.2 | So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. |
| 0:41.6 | Hello, I'm Claudia Hammond and a very warm welcome to the evidence from the BBC. |
| 0:46.4 | Now this series is produced in collaboration with Welcome Collection and we are back in their |
| 0:51.2 | beautiful reading room in London with a live audience. It is wonderful to be back and before I |
| 0:56.6 | introduce my panel, I'd like you all here in the audience to introduce yourself to each other. |
| 1:02.0 | If you could turn and say hi to the person next to you, a preferably a good loud hi so we can |
| 1:07.0 | hear it on the microphone, even shake hands if you feel comfortable doing so just for a moment. |
| 1:17.1 | Well, what a very friendly lot you are and there was a reason I asked you to do that which |
| 1:21.4 | will become clear I promise you later on because the subject of today's evidence is the magical |
| 1:27.2 | world of the human microbiome and how it affects our health. Now this is one of the fastest |
| 1:33.0 | moving areas of science and just in the time that I've been presenting health shows on the BBC |
| 1:38.4 | World Service in the past decade or so, there have been some quite astonishing discoveries. |
| 1:43.8 | But before we start to unpick what the microbiome is and what it does, let me introduce our |
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