The Bugs Controlling You

There are between 300 and 1000 different species of in your gut, totalling over 100 trillion microorganisms. There are between 5 and 50 trillion cells in the human body. That means there are more of them than there are of you. Creeped out?


To some, bacteria is a bad thing. This is why antibacterial soaps and hand cleansers are a multi-billion dollar industry, predicted to reach over $40 billion by 2016. However, people are starting to understand just how vital those microscopic bugs are for our existence. Take your gut, for example, your GI tract, the poop-shoot, that single long tube that turns food to fertilizer (Disclaimer: human feces is not a good fertilizer). There's bacteria in the biofilms of the mouth, bacteria in the stomach and perhaps most importantly, bacteria in the small and large intestine that help digest carbohydrates and absorb fatty acids. This same gut microbiome is increasingly thought to directly influence brain function as well. That's gut bacteria, playing a role in your personality.

You can't function without them because they protect you. They help digest your food. They produce amino acids that you can't survive without. There is plenty of research that shows just how integrated you are with your little friends. The health of the gut microbiome is being linked to obesity, bone health, immune function and mental health. And this is no longer new and surprising (to most people). The scientific community at large has accepted the fact that we are covered inside and out with some extra friends that we heavily rely on. 

So why are people so resistant to new research showing that a parasite from cat intestines may be controlling our brains?

Wait. What?

A handful of studies on Toxoplasma gondii, (all linked from this article, which what got my attention in the first place) have shown some personality quirks that are far more prevalent in those tested for the parasite. These individuals are more likely to be uncoordinated enough to have more car accidents, less likely to seek out new experiences, and they show a higher correlation with schizophrenia. Unlike your gut-dwelling friends, there seems to be little positive outcome from contracting T. gondii.

The research of one of the experts in this area, Jaroslav Flegr, hadn't been taken seriously by many for a good portion of his career. People are resistant to the idea of parasites controlling their personality to such a degree.

However, upon further reflection, it doesn't seem that unlikely. If there are bugs controlling so many aspects of our physiology, from weight to mood, why wouldn't they have an affect on personality too? As uncomfortable as it is to ponder, as time goes on, it wouldn't be surprising if we discover even more of "them" controlling us. It's just one more reminder that humans are inextricably linked to the world around us.

 

Finding Science

School is hard and life is expensive. I worked throughout my undergraduate degree to take out fewer loans. Eventually I decided to quit my full-time job to focus on school; I was looking for work relevant to my degree in Biological Sciences. On a whim, I applied for and was awarded a summer fellowship to do research in a cell biology lab. I had no idea what research was like and had taken few classes within my major. I just needed some money and something to do with my summer. 

My first day in the lab, the PI explained the project I was joining: cells that appeared to change morphology when a certain receptor was stimulated for an hour.

“An hour?” I said, “What happens to them after an hour?”

Her response floored me: “I don't know. That can be your project.”

She didn't know? But she’s a professor! I thought scientists knew everything. Can’t we Google it? Look it up in a textbook? Ask someone else?

It wasn't until later that I began to understand. The answer wasn't out there, because no one had ever asked that specific question. Research is about exploring puzzles that have yet to be solved. Instead of asking someone or finding the answer in a book, you have to figure it out. From that epiphany on, I got hooked.

That was 5 years ago. The shift in thinking that research fosters is amazing. It's a little X-files-ish. Now I question everything. Trust no one! (at least not until you see their data). I want to know how things work. I want to know the whys, the hows and most importantly, the mechanisms. Don't tell me that eating XYZ is healthy unless you can tell me what exactly its doing and why. 

Science has turned me a little pedantic, but it has opened up a whole new realm of humor as well:

If you have a mol of moles, digging a mol of holes, what do you see?

A mol of molasses (mole-asses). 

At any rate. Science is awesome. I'm making the transition from lab technician/manager to graduate student this fall. 

I can't wait. 

The Birth: What the Heck is Twitter?

Welcome to Shum Stuff. Or if you want to re-punctuate, you could also consider Shum's Tuff. I'm pretty okay with either one. I'm a Shum, one of many. This is my stuff.

Let's get one thing straight from the beginning. Shum. It's pronounced exactly as it is spelled. Shhhhhh. Ummmmm. Put it together now: Shhhuuuuuuum. As you can tell, it's a bit of a pet-peeve to have my last name mispronounced. I could understand if it had multiple vowels, or at least two syllables, but it's about as simple as it gets. Shum. Rhymes with bum, dumb, thumb, and scum. If you can come up with a nickname I haven't heard before, you win a prize! A small, cheap, probably plastic prize. Possibly a pipe cleaner.

Moving on.

Not too long ago, I could not for-the-love-of-all-that's-holy figure out what the big deal was about Twitter. I had an account. I had followed about 10 people, and had about that many following me (lookout behind you!). I would log on about once a month, look around a little and not really get it. I'm a scientist (or pretend to be), so I don't really like it when I don't understand things. It was time to figure out why people tweet.

As any reasonable 21st century woman does when she wants to embark on a new adventure, I Googled it. The best advice I found was to be active. Tweet, respond, follow, jump into conversations. Unless you're a celebrity, people won't come to you. You need to engage them.

And so I did. I started tweeting something 2-3 times a day, whether it be retweeting, responding to a question or just plowing my way into someone else's conversation. But the real trouble started when I followed @JacquelynGill. If you are unfamiliar with this ecologist, biogeographer and twitter-fiend, check out her blog here. I retweeted a few articles she wrote and it started a conversation. People in her science-sphere saw our conversation and followed me. I did the polite thing and followed them back. 

Then things started to snowball. You see, the fascinating Dr Gill is heavily into science communication (#scicomm). Science communication is exactly what it sounds like. Communicating about science. This can be between scientists, journalists, the general public or combination thereof. Science research, science policy, science education. These people are obsessed with science and attempting to engage those around in conversations. It just so happens that they were all at a convention about science communication, causing them to really blow up the Twitter-verse.

By golly, I had no idea that this was a topic so fascinating. As a lab technician, I talk a lot of science every day. The few non-scientists I interact with on a regular basis know a-plenty about science by sheer virtue of interaction with moi. In this insular science-drenched world it's easy to forgot that a shocking number of people still discount global warming, evolution, or even the basic science needed to make educated opinions about their own health care.

Science communication is vastly important, and I'm hooked on being a part of it. Where is my place in all this? I don't know yet. Stay with me to find out.

I'm a Shum, and this is my stuff.