Inspired by an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, explores microbes and their implications for modern science and medicine.

Suddenly, research findings require a paradigm shift in our view of the microbial world. The Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health is well under way, and unprecedented scientific technology now allows the censusing of trillions of microbes inside and on our bodies as well as in the places where we live, work, and play. This intriguing, up-to-the-minute book for scientists and nonscientists alike explains what researchers are discovering about the microbe world and what the implications are for modern science and medicine. Rob DeSalle and Susan Perkins illuminate the long, intertwined evolution of humans and microbes. They discuss how novel DNA sequencing has shed entirely new light on the complexity of microbe-human interactions, and they examine the potential benefits to human health: amazing possibilities for pinpoint treatment of infections and other illnesses without upsetting the vital balance of an individual microbiome. This book has been inspired by an exhibition, The Secret World Inside You: The Microbiome, at the American Museum of Natural History, which will open in New York in early November 2015 and run until August 2016. It will then travel to other museums in the United States and abroad.

Live Dirty, Eat Clean—because every serious disease or chronic ailment begins in our gut. The author of Gutbliss and one of today’s preeminent gastroenterologists distills the latest research on the microbiome into a practical program for boosting overall health. The microbiome—the collective name for the trillions of bacteria that live in our digestive tract—is today’s hottest medical news topic. Dr. Robynne Chutkan explains how the standard Western diet and our super-sanitized lifestyle are starving our microbes, depleting the “good bugs” that are crucial for keeping us healthy, and encouraging overgrowth of exactly the wrong types of bacteria. But, as Dr. Chutkan explains, there are effective lifestyle and diet changes we can make to reverse this damage. Dr. Chutkan has helped thousands of patients suffering from a disordered microbiome with her comprehensive Live Dirty, Eat Clean Plan, designed to remove damaging medications and foods, replace important bacteria that have been lost, and restore health. The Microbiome Solution offers: a microbiome overview, nourishing recipes, questions for your doctor, preventative and recovery health tips, and the next frontier for a severely troubled microbiome—the stool transplant. This is the first book to provide a practical, effective plan for replenishing and optimizing the vital ecosystem in our gut. Start living dirty and eating clean today to ward off disease and begin the path toward lifelong, vibrant health.

The Food Forum convened a public workshop on February 22-23, 2012, to explore current and emerging knowledge of the human microbiome, its role in human health, its interaction with the diet, and the translation of new research findings into tools and products that improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. The Human Microbiome, Diet, and Health: Workshop Summary summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop. Over the two day workshop, several themes covered included: The microbiome is integral to human physiology, health, and disease. The microbiome is arguably the most intimate connection that humans have with their external environment, mostly through diet. Given the emerging nature of research on the microbiome, some important methodology issues might still have to be resolved with respect to undersampling and a lack of causal and mechanistic studies. Dietary interventions intended to have an impact on host biology via their impact on the microbiome are being developed, and the market for these products is seeing tremendous success. However, the current regulatory framework poses challenges to industry interest and investment.

Building off the success of the first edition, Gut Microbiota: Interactive Effects on Nutrition and Health, Second Edition, details the complex relationship between diet, the gut microbiota, and health. This second edition expands its coverage of emerging practical applications in nutrition and medicine.Covering topics such as the ecological concepts that apply to the gut microbiota and the effects of aging on the gut microbiome, among others, this book is sure to be a welcome resource to microbiome science trainees, food and nutrition researchers working in academia, and industry and healthcare professionals giving dietary recommendations to the general public. - Presents diet, the gut microbiota, and health in a way that helps the reader interpret the value of related consumer tests and products - Includes frequently asked questions that help clinicians provide succinct answers to their patients or clients - Covers gut microbiota in the context of nutrition research and analyzes gaps in current knowledge to shape the design of future studies in this field

A great number of diverse microorganisms inhabit the human body and are collectively referred to as the human microbiome. Until recently, the role of the human microbiome in maintaining human health was not fully appreciated. Today, however, research is beginning to elucidate associations between perturbations in the human microbiome and human disease and the factors that might be responsible for the perturbations. Studies have indicated that the human microbiome could be affected by environmental chemicals or could modulate exposure to environmental chemicals. Environmental Chemicals, the Human Microbiome, and Health Risk presents a research strategy to improve our understanding of the interactions between environmental chemicals and the human microbiome and the implications of those interactions for human health risk. This report identifies barriers to such research and opportunities for collaboration, highlights key aspects of the human microbiome and its relation to health, describes potential interactions between environmental chemicals and the human microbiome, reviews the risk-assessment framework and reasons for incorporating chemicalâ€"microbiome interactions.

In this fun, fact-packed science book for kids, young readers will discover the bacteria, viruses, and other germs and microbes that keep our bodies and our world running, as well as how and when they can be harmful and the precautions we can take to prevent them from becoming so. Meet a glowing squid, traveling fungus spores, and much more. The Bacteria Book walks the line between "ew, gross!" and "oh, cool!," exploring why we need bacteria and introducing readers to its microbial mates—viruses, fungi, algae, archaea, and protozoa. The Bacteria Book is a fun and informative introduction to a STEM subject that brings kids up-close to the big world of tiny science. With remarkable photography, kooky character illustrations, and lots of fun facts, this book uses real-life examples of microbiology in action to show how tiny microbes affect us in big ways.

The 21st century has witnessed a complete revolution in the understanding and description of bacteria in eco- systems and microbial assemblages, and how they are regulated by complex interactions among microbes, hosts, and environments. The human organism is no longer considered a monolithic assembly of tissues, but is instead a true ecosystem composed of human cells, bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses. As such, humans are not unlike other complex ecosystems containing microbial assemblages observed in the marine and earth environments. They all share a basic functional principle: Chemical communication is the universal language that allows such groups to properly function together. These chemical networks regulate interactions like metabolic exchange, antibiosis and symbiosis, and communication. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Chemical Sciences Roundtable organized a series of four seminars in the autumn of 2016 to explore the current advances, opportunities, and challenges toward unveiling this "chemical dark matter" and its role in the regulation and function of different ecosystems. The first three focused on specific ecosystemsâ€"earth, marine, and humanâ€"and the last on all microbiome systems. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the seminars.

Microbiome Under Changing Climate: Implications and Solutions presents the latest biotechnological interventions for the judicious use of microbes to ensure optimal agricultural yield. Summarizing aspects of vulnerability, adaptation and amelioration of climate impact, this book provides an important resource for understanding microbes, plants and soil in pursuit of sustainable agriculture and improved food security. It emphasizes the interaction between climate and soil microbes and their potential role in promoting advanced sustainable agricultural solutions, focusing on current research designed to use beneficial microbes such as plant growth promoting microorganisms, fungi, endophytic microbes, and more. Changes in climatic conditions influence all factors of the agricultural ecosystem, including adversely impacting yield both in terms of quantity and nutritional quality. In order to develop resilience against climatic changes, it is increasingly important to understand the effect on the native micro-flora, including the distribution of methanogens and methanotrophs, nutrient content and microbial biomass, among others. - Demonstrates the impact of climate change on secondary metabolites of plants and potential responses - Incorporates insights on microflora of inhabitant soil - Explores mitigation processes and their modulation by sustainable methods - Highlights the role of microbial technologies in agricultural sustainability

Microbiome, Immunity, Digestive Health and Nutrition: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Prevention and Treatment addresses a wide range of topics related to the role of nutrition in achieving and maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. Written by leading experts in the field, the book outlines the various foods, minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers, prebiotics, probiotics, nutritional supplements, phytochemicals and drugs that improve gut health. It specifically addresses molecular and cellular mechanisms and pathways by which these nutritional components contribute to the physiology and functionality of a healthy gut microbiome and gut health. Intended for nutrition researchers and practitioners, food experts, gastroenterologists, nurses, general practitioners, public health officials and health professionals, this book is sure to be a welcomed resource. - Outlines the nutritional guidelines and healthy lifestyle that is important to boost gut health - Demonstrates the effects of diverse environmental stressors in the disruption of the gastrointestinal ecology - Discusses the molecular and immunological mechanisms associated with healthy gut microbiome functions - Addresses how to boost healthy gut microflora and microbiome - Suggests areas for future research of microbiome-based nutrition and therapies