The new microbial frontier

Interesting article about our symbiotic relationship with bacteria. It's the type of article that I suspect is interesting only to science types. But if that describes you, I think you should trot on over and read it. It's fascinating. Here's a taste:

Due to these symbiotic relationships, the scientists here propose that the very definitions of an organism, an environment, a population, and a genome have become blurred and should be reviewed. It may be, for instance, that animals are better viewed as host-microbe ecosystems than as individuals.

I've always said that a human being is a colony rather than an individual. It looks like the facts are leaning my way.

De to these symbiotic relationships, the scientists here propose that the very definitions of an organism, an environment, a population, and a genome have become blurred and should be reviewed. It may be, for instance, that animals are better viewed as host-microbe ecosystems than as individuals.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-bacterial-world-impacting-previously-thought.html#jCp