I, Microbes – my Radio 4 talk on the hordes of microbes inside us

ByEd Yong
October 19, 2011

I have this image that someone, somewhere, tuned into Radio 4 at about 8.54pm tonight, heard the words “poo transplant” issue from my mouth, and promptly started writing a complaint letter.

I did my first ever radio skit tonight for a series called Four Thought, a set of talks about interesting ideas that include a mix of personal storytelling. I elected to witter on about one of my favourite topics: the microbiome. That’s the legion of bacteria and other microbes (and their collective genes) that live inside us, and affect our health, lives and minds. As the official description reads: “he asks whether he should be seen as a human, or a universe of bacteria in a “human shaped sack”?”

It was fun to record, the audience were great, I got to meet David Baddiel, and I follow in the footsteps of such scientific luminaries as Steve Rose and Charles ffrench-Constant.

If you’re in the UK or Ireland, you should be able to listen to it on iPlayer soon enough. You can also download a podcast of the actual talk. Or if the thought of hearing me speak fills you with dread, you can read an edited version of the talk script on the BBC website.

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