The Role Our Microbiome Plays In Our ‘Gut Feelings’

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Scientists are tuning in to a surprising conversation happening inside us—between our gut and our brain. Host Rachel Feltman chats with Maya Kaelberer, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s department of physiology, to explore how intestinal cells and microbiomes might be shaping our moods, cravings and mental health in ways we’re only beginning to understand. Recommended Reading “A Gut Sense for a Microbial Pattern Regulates Feeding,” by Winston W. Liu et al., in Nature. Published online July 23, 2025 Website for the Gut Brain Laboratory at the University of Arizona The gut-brain community website Gastronauts E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check the show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:52.6	People often talk about having gut feelings, but new research suggests that there may be more
0:58.9	to this idiom than we thought. Scientists are finding that specialized cells in our intestines
1:04.4	can send signals directly to the brain, potentially influencing appetite and even mood.
1:11.7	Recent studies hint that our microbiomes could play a role in this communication system,
1:16.7	though researchers are still trying to understand exactly how these interactions work and what they
1:21.9	mean for our health. Here to walk us through the emerging science of the belly-to-brain connection
1:27.2	is Maya Kelber, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona in the Department of Physiology.
1:33.3	Thanks so much for coming on to chat with us today.
1:35.7	It's my pleasure. I'm happy to be here.
1:37.6	So you recently co-authored a study that looks at the gut brain connection a little bit.
1:44.0	Could you tell us a little bit about why
1:46.5	scientists are interested in that and what we know about it so far?
1:50.1	Yeah, I mean, I think more than just scientists are interested in it. We have our gut feelings
	...

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