Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

J-P. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T dot-C-O-J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Christopher Nthagata.

Got a minute?

Most carbon dioxide that travels from your muscles to your lungs for exhalation does so not as CO2 proper, but as part of bicarbonate, HCO3.

Bicarbonate's vital to maintaining your blood pH, and it also aids in digestion.

But it turns out bicarbonate also tweaks the activity of rod cells in your retina.

In everyday vision, photons flood your rod cells, setting off a chemical cascade that eventually translates into an electrical message about what you saw.

But in lab tests, higher than normal levels of bicarbonate, allow the rods to recover from that photon response, 30% faster.

A 30% higher refresh rate, essentially,

meaning your ability to detect movement would improve.

The downside?

This rapid reset of the rod cells means they're less sensitive to light.

If you're sitting in darkness and you turned on a steady light, you might now take brighter

light for you to say, I can see that.

Study author Clint McKino of the Massachusetts Ion Ear Infirmary in Harvard Med School.

Or if the light's already on, it would take a larger increment in the intensity for you

to say, okay, it looks brighter now.

The results are in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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