[ExI] evolution

[Dave S]

On Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 10:57 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> I read today in Neuroscience News that gut microbes control our body's temperature.

It's more that gut microbes affect temperature regulation. Even without any gut microbes, the body is able to regulate temperature,

> How does it happen that entirely separate organisms come to regulate any body function? I reckon that you could ask the same thing about gut microbes making chemicals for the brain.

Traditionally, the gut microbiome has been determined by things like diet, hygiene, location, etc. So those people whose lifestyles resulted in gut microbiomes that gave them an advantage when fighting infection would have an advantage over those who don't. The same goes for microbiomes that help the brain.

The paper that found the temperature/microbiome relationship noted that human body temperatures have been on the decline since the 1860s, and they speculate that lifestyle changes like diet changes, antibiotics, and sanitary practices could be the cause. (See <https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/977135>)

-Dave

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