You might only be 10% human
You are not all human. You aren鈥檛 even mostly human.
The combined number of cells from microscopic organisms in the human body 鈥 such as bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses 鈥 vastly outnumber human cells. Some estimates suggest it may be as much as 10 to one, others are more conservative. But whatever the precise figure, the fact is, we're out-gunned. These organisms make up what鈥檚 called your 鈥榤icrobiome' and your body contains about three pints of it. The vast majority of these microbes are bacteria 鈥 and we carry around 100 trillion of them. That鈥檚 100,000,000,000,000.
But don鈥檛 worry 鈥 they aren't all bad. Quite the contrary. You need most of these bugs to lead a healthy and happy life.
CLICKABLE: Meet your bugs
Different species of bacteria like to make their home in various habitats in and on your body.
Meet some of your resident bugs by clicking on the body part labels in the image below.
CLICKABLE: How can I hack my bugs?
How can the richness of the bacteria you harbour be improved?
Click on the labels to find out.
Learn more about this topic:
Did climate change make us intelligent? document
Professor Brian Cox asks whether climate change made our ape ancestors evolve bigger brains, two million years ago in East Africa.
Amazing Me. collection
A series of primary biology films that demonstrate the amazing processes that go on inside each and every one of us.
What does my wee say about me? document
Wee, wonderful wee. The Operation Ouch team explain how it's made, why our bodies produce it and even have a go at drinking it. Yuck.
