“We can compare the gut of a person with inflammatory bowel disease to a dying coral reef or a fallow field,” he says. “Their microbes might be different to ours, but the same principles govern our alliances.”
Yong takes us on a tour of bacteria at work—in the gut of mosquitoes responsible for transmitting tropical diseases, to the labs of scientistific groups creating probiotic pills for humans.
Ed Yong is a science writer for The Atlantic based in London, England.