We Are Only Ten Percent Human.

According to scientists of the trillions of cells that make up a person only ten percent are human.
We are actually a superorganism with ninety percent of the cells made up of bacteria, viruses and microbes, with differing microcosms existing in different parts of our bodies.
The colonies of microbes that inhabit the moist rainforests of our armpits are different from the vast colonies that inhabit the desert area of our forearms. Surprisingly the forearm is the most popular site for human skin microbes, with 44 different microbial species making their home there.

It sure makes me look at myself a little differently.
www.winnipegfreepress.com...




[edit on 9/19/2009 by MissSmartypants]

Ah, I do wish they had super close up pictures of all these little critters, I do enjoy those! Our bodies are really amazing things. If those little things have a conscience, then were in essence, their universe which makes me feel important. I love the end of the article though because the whole thing is so futuristic sounding to me Im thinking oh this could help skin cancer, other horrible things that need to die but no, its acne. It's important too I guess, just threw me off a bit.

reply to post by VintageEnvy


I too pictured myself as a sort of universe inhabited by these trillions of lifeforms. What exactly am I to them I wonder?

geez, whatever it is i don't trust anything that says 'according to scientists',

so called scientists are most corrupted beings, - always must be some agenda behind their statements , normally its business, dont know whats this 'research' is for

When I was little, I think it was called something along the lines of gross out science. It showed drawings of these things that lived on your body like this crocodile shaped thing that chills in your eyelashes. That stuff fascinated me, they need to incorporate that into school more. We never even learned about any of that but those days were the days where every student was amazed and listened intently.

reply to post by angelx666


Hmmm...intrigueing point. I can't imagine what the actual value in such knowledge is other than knowing it for knowing it's sake.

magnify the vibration of your true self. says some new agey bastard. become more than a human, but an idea(l) says leeam neeson.

Only about 10 per cent of the trillions of cells that make up a person are truly human, researchers say.
The other 90 per cent are bacteria, viruses and other microbes swarming in your gut and on your skin.

From this passage alone all the credability of the article is gone. It was not written by scientist and if any microbiologist would tell you that virus is a cell and it is "another" microbe - find another microbiologist.
And if journalist mixed that up, he could easily mix other parts too.

reply to post by thaknobodi


I did that earlier this morning. I think I may have frightened some of the microbes though.

Originally posted by MissSmartypants
reply to post by angelx666

 

Hmmm...intrigueing point. I can't imagine what the actual value in such knowledge is other than knowing it for knowing it's sake.

Other than a learned aversion to such a notion that seems to be the motive behind posting along these lines, my guess is that if there is in fact any value to such knowledge for perhaps treatment of the disease it will also be "the scientists" (those evil buggers) that figure it out.

So what you are saying is our bodies are just living breathing zoos of hundreads of different bacteria and virus living in and on our bodies.God there is more lifeforms passing though my body everyday than heathrow airport.That exsplains why aliens abduct so many people.Just like us being stamp collectors,the aliens are virus and bacteria collectors.The aliens must have some spaced out alien collectors club.That exsplains it.The alien species are up there swaping bacteria and viruses like we swap collectors cards and when theres a mutation they all rush in to get the newest virus or bacteria.I wounder if they are selling them on some spaced out version of e bay somewhere.

[edit on 19-9-2009 by GORGANTHIUM]

[edit on 19-9-2009 by GORGANTHIUM]

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


It was grammatically incorrect. Viruses are not cells but there is debate as to whether they are forms of life or not. But surely you get their point.

Originally posted by ZeroKnowledge
And if journalist mixed that up, he could easily mix other parts too.

Not quite. You're parsin sloppy language and equating that with ignorance. Those sort of shenanigans won't fly with me either. What I get is that they don't contribute to 90% by mass or volume but by number, that is, the non-human cells or other living particles, regardless of type.

reply to post by EnlightenUp


Yes of course, treatment of disease. Major brainfart there.
But seriously if I had unlimited wealth I would so pay scientists to research stuff just to know it.

Originally posted by MissSmartypants
reply to post by EnlightenUp

 

Yes of course, treatment of disease. Major brainfart there.
But seriously if I had unlimited wealth I would so pay scientists to research stuff just to know it.

It's difficult for me to dismiss any knowledge out of hand as being useless as who knows what fortunate accident of insight could come from it. We already know that bacteria in the gut are essential to processing food. Who knows what other symbiotic relationships might exist. If we ignore some piece of the puzzle, then we could miss critical bits of the picture.

reply to post by EnlightenUp


Yes I would think the majority of the organisms are in some way either beneficial to us or at the least not harmful. And as I sit here typing I seem to be getting along with all my microbes pretty well right now. By the way, they say Hi.

[edit on 9/19/2009 by MissSmartypants]

reply to post by MissSmartypants


Actually, I believe we are 100% human with a bunch of freeloading parasites and tag-alongs. The addition of these foreign microbes and other oddities does not make us any less human, in other words, they don't detract from us. If anything, the argument could almost be made that they sort of "bulk" us up.

"We're one-tenth human"

What is a human but a composition of cells, prokaryotic and eukaryotic forming tissues, organs, and organisms (us)? A history of human life, DNA, a blueprint, contains years of environmental conditions recorded by each predecessor. Essentially we are everything and nothing; science would define us as matter composed of potential and kinetic energy oscillating at a variety of vibrations to compose a living being. But really it's up to you to decide.

Originally posted by MissSmartypants
reply to post by angelx666

 

Hmmm...intrigueing point. I can't imagine what the actual value in such knowledge is other than knowing it for knowing it's sake.

probable to make a shiple more worthless than they already are,

and yea, 'bacterias'? listen to your doctor !