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I don't understand the interest of such discussions about cell count in human body (scientifically or even philosophically). It seems a meaningless metric to me

by Rexxar 11y ago

I don't understand the interest of such discussions about cell count in human body (scientifically or even philosophically). It seems a meaningless metric to me.

DanBC 11y ago
People love factoids and this is a zinger of a factoid. "Hey, you aren't mostly you, you're mostly GERMS". The calmer versions are hooks to get people interested in popular science articles about gut flora, and the different bits of research that are happening.
robotmagician 11y ago
I think there are pretty important implications of cell counts. It is probably more apparent if we look at the brain - it has been pretty important to evolutionary biology to study not only the whole number of brain cells but also the proportion that are neurons and the proportions that are other, supporting cells. Similarly, it matters how many cells there are in a particular region of the brain when we ask the question - how did this region evolve to be of this size? If this piques your curiosity I'd recommend Suzana Herculano-Houzel's work - either her popular TED talk ( https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so_special_about_the_human_brain https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so... ) or this kind of paper if you want to take a deep dive ( http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnana.2014.00077/abstract http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnana.2014.00... ) << should be open access. Getting accurate measurements of the numbers of cells gives us a good idea of the number of divisions required to produce them, and could also be used in normalizing cancer risk across organisms. Measurements of types of cells in a tissue give us an idea of the magnitude of the signaling / secretion events from these cells.
Ensorceled 11y ago
I find the number very useful when talking about anti-bacterial soaps, anti-biotic abuses, etc. with less educated acquaintances and family members. It is an eye opener for many people to find out that you NEED untold billions of bacteria to live a healthy life.
lutusp 11y ago
> It seems a meaningless metric to me. It matters to people who think of bacteria as foreign invaders, as "not-self". It can be seen as a modern version of the debate about the location of the hypothetical soul -- you know, people have souls, but dogs and bacteria don't.

by Rexxar 11y ago

I don't understand the interest of such discussions about cell count in human body (scientifically or even philosophically). It seems a meaningless metric to me.

DanBC 11y ago

People love factoids and this is a zinger of a factoid. "Hey, you aren't mostly you, you're mostly GERMS". The calmer versions are hooks to get people interested in popular science articles about gut flora, and the different bits of research that are happening.

robotmagician 11y ago

I think there are pretty important implications of cell counts. It is probably more apparent if we look at the brain - it has been pretty important to evolutionary biology to study not only the whole number of brain cells but also the proportion that are neurons and the proportions that are other, supporting cells. Similarly, it matters how many cells there are in a particular region of the brain when we ask the question - how did this region evolve to be of this size? If this piques your curiosity I'd recommend Suzana Herculano-Houzel's work - either her popular TED talk ( https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so_special_about_the_human_brain https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so... ) or this kind of paper if you want to take a deep dive ( http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnana.2014.00077/abstract http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnana.2014.00... ) << should be open access. Getting accurate measurements of the numbers of cells gives us a good idea of the number of divisions required to produce them, and could also be used in normalizing cancer risk across organisms. Measurements of types of cells in a tissue give us an idea of the magnitude of the signaling / secretion events from these cells.

Ensorceled 11y ago

I find the number very useful when talking about anti-bacterial soaps, anti-biotic abuses, etc. with less educated acquaintances and family members. It is an eye opener for many people to find out that you NEED untold billions of bacteria to live a healthy life.

lutusp 11y ago

> It seems a meaningless metric to me. It matters to people who think of bacteria as foreign invaders, as "not-self". It can be seen as a modern version of the debate about the location of the hypothetical soul -- you know, people have souls, but dogs and bacteria don't.