How Quarantine Has Turned Us Into Gardeners of Our Bodies’ Ancient Microbial Wilderness
As We Separate to Avoid a Virus, We Are Becoming Islands of Social Bacteria, Fungi, and Even Mites
We may feel isolated now, in our homes, or apart in parks, or behind plexiglass shields in stores. But we are never alone. I’ve spent much of the last 20 years studying the many species with which we live: thousands of them, perhaps hundreds of thousands, including fungi, bacteria on our skin and in our guts, and animals ranging from the several species of Demodex mites that live in our pores to the spiders that ride with us from home to home.
In ordinary times, no person is an island. …
