There are thousands of species of gut bacteria within us that are vital to our health, but antibiotics and our modern lifestyles are posing a threat to the diversity of the traditional human microbiome, which is no bueno. To save our gut bacteria and the future of humanity, a biologist at MIT by the name of Eric Alm has set up the non-profit Global Microbiome Conservancy. The aim is to collect samples of feces from indigenous and isolated people and build a repository of their intestinal inhabitants before they disappear. A lot of the biodiversity that is being lost today is housed within humans – in our gut microbiomes – and it could disappear altogether as more people are adopting an industrialized way of life. It may be a smelly job, but creating a microbiome library is key to preserving that biodiversity, which could potentially help solve future health crises.
This biologist is collecting poo samples to save the future of humanity
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