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posted by cmn32480 on Friday August 21 2015, @08:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the hey-baby-wanna-join-my-biomolecular-network dept.

A series of groundbreaking studies have revealed that what we have always thought of as individuals are actually "biomolecular networks" that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes that have a significant effect on how the host develops, the diseases it catches, how it behaves and possibly even its social interactions.
...
In this case, the parts are the host and its genome plus the thousands of different species of bacteria living in or on the host, along with all their genomes, collectively known as the microbiome. (The host is something like the tip of the iceberg while the bacteria are like the part of the iceberg that is underwater: Nine out of every 10 cells in plant and animal bodies are bacterial. But bacterial cells are so much smaller than host cells that they have generally gone unnoticed.)

Microbiologists have coined new terms for these collective entities -- holobiont -- and for their genomes -- hologenome. "These terms are needed to define the assemblage of organisms that makes up the so-called individual," said Bordenstein.

There may really be something to this. Other recent research has focused on the role that microflora play in obesity and other aspects of human health. What do you fellow "holobionts" say, does it disturb or comfort you to think of yourselves as a walking constellation of bacteria?


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday August 22 2015, @08:15PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Saturday August 22 2015, @08:15PM (#226376)

    The thing is, you are not a singular individual. You're a collection of different organisms, working together. So you shouldn't use any singular pronouns to refer to yourself or other people; you should only use plural ones.

    No, I *am* a singular individual.
    I control my body; I don't control all these other things living inside me. They don't share my consciousness; they're just along for the ride.
    If and when it becomes practical to communicate with said gut flora or whatever I'll concede your point. Until then, no.

    It's just like companies. Decades ago, we used to refer to a company as a singular entity: "Ford is a car company", etc. However, these days, everyone nows refers to corporations as a collective and uses plural pronouns: "Ford are a car company".

    FTFY.
    Do you hang out with a lot of English majors or something? Because I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "Ford are a car company" before.

    P.S: Or is this whole post a joke. I'm not sure.

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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday August 23 2015, @03:33AM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday August 23 2015, @03:33AM (#226527)

    Um yes, the post was supposed to be sarcasm (with a couple of typos).

    No, I don't hang out with English majors, I just read the internet a lot, and I've seen a lot of people writing that way. According to another responder here, it's British English usage. Whatever it is, it's fucking annoying and stupid.