When the researchers sampled kitchens, they found that the space was dominated by the microbiomes of the people who spent the most time there. University of Chicago microbial ecologist Jack Gilbert and his colleagues have found that they can detect a sort of microbial fingerprint from individual household members. They found that on average, these homes were host to more than 2,000 kinds of microbial life, and there was more microbial diversity in the dust inside the homes than the samples collected outside of them. In one experiment, researchers asked residents of 40 different households to collect samples from the surfaces of everything from cutting boards to pillowcases, toilet seats, and TV screens. Anthes (who is an occasional contributor to Undark) explains that our homes are host to an “invisible menagerie of organisms” whose lives are intertwined with ours, whether we realize it or not. The book begins with an exploration of the burgeoning field of indoor ecology. BOOK REVIEW - “The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness” by Emily Anthes (Macmillan Publishers, 304 pages).
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