Most of us (I'll speak for us women) aren't necessarily proud of our farts. A new study shows that we should be, male or female. According to the article, "Got Gas? It Could Mean You've Got Healthy Gut Microbes" having up to 18 passes of gas a day is normal and healthy. "Eating foods that cause gas is the only way for the microbes in the gut
to get nutrients," says Purna Kashya, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Michaeleen Doucleff, who is the author of "Got Gas? It Could Mean You've Got Healthy Gut Microbes" does a great job of presenting the facts of the study in a way that 'average level science brains' like me can understand. Doucleff discusses how gassy foods like broccoli, beans, and cabbage feed our gut microbes. "All these microbes are gas-making fools. They eat up unused food in your
large intestine, like fiber and other carbohydrates we don't digest,
and churn out a bunch of gases as waste," says Doucleff. Of course, too much gas could be signs of something more serious - but all in moderation is a good sign. Doucleff uses quotes from a credible source, like the one I used above. Doucleff incorporates a combination of the ethos and logos elements using trustworthiness and facts throughout her article.
I really enjoyed reading this article. I think it was presented really well and all of the proper information was set forth. As I have with my other articles, I don't exactly feel the need to say that I hope more research is done on the subject. I think this study is interesting by all means, but doesn't depend on the well being of the human race. Regardless, I still enjoyed blogging about gassy microbes!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
It's been known for some time that our gut microbes differ depending on what we eat. Researchers are surprised to find out when the gut microbes of the Hazda tribe are drastically different from anything they've ever seen.
This week I am going to base my blog on the article, "The Surprising Gut Microbes of African Hunter-Gatherers" by Nick Stockton. Stockton presents the facts about the study without sounding bias or as if he is giving his own opinion. He uses quotes from scholarly microbiologists and a nutritional anthropologist implementing the ethos rhetorical element into his work. By using credible sources and siting their credentials in his paper (ie. "said co-author Alyssa Crittenden, a nutritional anthropologist from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.") this makes Stockton's article more convincing and trustworthy. When deciding which article to blog about every week, I tend to leave behind the ones that don't have any quotes from credible sources or sources at all, for that matter; they just aren't reliable!
Another way Stockton incorporates ethos into this article is by presenting a study done on the Hazda tribe gut microbes. "To study the difference between the ancient and modern gut, researchers analyzed stool samples from 16 Italian urbanites and 27 Hadza foragers, of both genders." The reader is then presented with the picture I placed below, which I found very helpful; pictures are always beneficial to the reader when writing an essay or an article!
Stockton presents the study in a way that somebody who 'Isn't even close
to being a scientist but is still interested in microbes' can still
understand (like me.)
Throughout my blogging career (about 3/4 of a semester) I've learned a lot about gut microbes. My all-time favorite microbe fact so far is that there are six pounds of microbes in our gut alone... more or less! I think there is a lot to learn about the microbes in our gut and they can tell us a lot about our bodies and human life as a whole!
This week I am going to base my blog on the article, "The Surprising Gut Microbes of African Hunter-Gatherers" by Nick Stockton. Stockton presents the facts about the study without sounding bias or as if he is giving his own opinion. He uses quotes from scholarly microbiologists and a nutritional anthropologist implementing the ethos rhetorical element into his work. By using credible sources and siting their credentials in his paper (ie. "said co-author Alyssa Crittenden, a nutritional anthropologist from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.") this makes Stockton's article more convincing and trustworthy. When deciding which article to blog about every week, I tend to leave behind the ones that don't have any quotes from credible sources or sources at all, for that matter; they just aren't reliable!
Another way Stockton incorporates ethos into this article is by presenting a study done on the Hazda tribe gut microbes. "To study the difference between the ancient and modern gut, researchers analyzed stool samples from 16 Italian urbanites and 27 Hadza foragers, of both genders." The reader is then presented with the picture I placed below, which I found very helpful; pictures are always beneficial to the reader when writing an essay or an article!
Throughout my blogging career (about 3/4 of a semester) I've learned a lot about gut microbes. My all-time favorite microbe fact so far is that there are six pounds of microbes in our gut alone... more or less! I think there is a lot to learn about the microbes in our gut and they can tell us a lot about our bodies and human life as a whole!
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Say "Yummy" to Old Milk!
Imagine if the milk you bought six months ago was still drinkable? Professor and Agricultural Experiment Station researcher, Sanjev Anand, has "begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms." According to the article "Diary Scientist Targets Heat-Resistant Microbes" drinking that six-month-old milk may be a safe possibility in the near future.
This was one of my favorite articles to read since I have began blogging about microbes. The way the information presented in the article was as if the author knew exactly what questions to answer at each point in the article. One thing I did find a little odd was that the name of the author was not presented on the website, www.phys.org. Why the name is not there I am unsure; regardless, this was a very well presented article.The article presents the facts of the experiment and which steps were executed to make the research successful.
Obvious to some, bacteria is what makes milk and other dairy products spoil. Dairy farmers pasteurize their product to get rid of harmful bacteria and microbes but some are able to survive it - otherwise known as the thermophiles. Thermophiles form spores to protect themselves from heat and makes them, "trickier to activate" as claimed by Anand.
While this information may be new to some of us, Anand and his team of eighteen students have been doing similar research on the topic for over five years. Like I say in majority of my blogs, there is much more research to be executed to perfect the theory. It's a good fantasy to think that one day we may not have to worry about our food going bad... and all natural way of course!
This was one of my favorite articles to read since I have began blogging about microbes. The way the information presented in the article was as if the author knew exactly what questions to answer at each point in the article. One thing I did find a little odd was that the name of the author was not presented on the website, www.phys.org. Why the name is not there I am unsure; regardless, this was a very well presented article.The article presents the facts of the experiment and which steps were executed to make the research successful.
Obvious to some, bacteria is what makes milk and other dairy products spoil. Dairy farmers pasteurize their product to get rid of harmful bacteria and microbes but some are able to survive it - otherwise known as the thermophiles. Thermophiles form spores to protect themselves from heat and makes them, "trickier to activate" as claimed by Anand.
While this information may be new to some of us, Anand and his team of eighteen students have been doing similar research on the topic for over five years. Like I say in majority of my blogs, there is much more research to be executed to perfect the theory. It's a good fantasy to think that one day we may not have to worry about our food going bad... and all natural way of course!
has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world's dairy industry.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world's dairy industry.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world's dairy industry.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world's dairy industry.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world's dairy industry.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-dairy-scientist-heat-resistant-microbes.html#jCp
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Microbes Rule the Earth, and We just Live on It
One thing that I have come to realize throughout the semester in my Biology class is that microbes have just as much power to keep us alive as they do to kill us. A new study suggests that microbes may be responsible for the largest extinction in the history of our planet. Of course, this extinction occurred way before human life existed - even before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Scientists call this microbe-induced extinction the "end-Permian extinction" which began about 252 million years ago and lasted approximately 20,000 years.
The article, "Small Microbes Almost Killed All Life On Earth, Study Suggests" tells all about the deathly microbes. Author of this article, Deborah Netburn does a good job presenting the facts of this new discovery. Netburn doesn't present what actually caused this extinction until the middle-end of the article - something I would have presented earlier on. Eventually I did learn that the source of this extinction was the Methanosarcina. Methanosarcina is a " tiny methane-spewing microbe" - according to the article. I did like how Netburn presented the clues as to why scientists think that this extinction could have transpired. One of the clues Netburn discusses were the huge spikes in CO2 levels at the time of the extinction. "If the C02 came from the sudden combustion of a coal field in Siberia it wouldn't behave this way. It has this special character that is consistent with microbial processes" says MIT geophysicist Dan Rothman.
Rothman understands that this idea sounds a little far fetched, but it is "...consistent, and that's what is necessary to move forward and provide further tests." Similar to other articles I have written a blog about - more research is to be conducted. I'm unsure as to how concluding this discovery could benefit us today, but I'm sure any scientist could answer that question.
Microbes are tiny but powerful. As microbiologists like to say, 'Microbes rule the Earth, and we just live on it.'
The article, "Small Microbes Almost Killed All Life On Earth, Study Suggests" tells all about the deathly microbes. Author of this article, Deborah Netburn does a good job presenting the facts of this new discovery. Netburn doesn't present what actually caused this extinction until the middle-end of the article - something I would have presented earlier on. Eventually I did learn that the source of this extinction was the Methanosarcina. Methanosarcina is a " tiny methane-spewing microbe" - according to the article. I did like how Netburn presented the clues as to why scientists think that this extinction could have transpired. One of the clues Netburn discusses were the huge spikes in CO2 levels at the time of the extinction. "If the C02 came from the sudden combustion of a coal field in Siberia it wouldn't behave this way. It has this special character that is consistent with microbial processes" says MIT geophysicist Dan Rothman.
Rothman understands that this idea sounds a little far fetched, but it is "...consistent, and that's what is necessary to move forward and provide further tests." Similar to other articles I have written a blog about - more research is to be conducted. I'm unsure as to how concluding this discovery could benefit us today, but I'm sure any scientist could answer that question.
Microbes are tiny but powerful. As microbiologists like to say, 'Microbes rule the Earth, and we just live on it.'
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