Being Human

7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That number—7 octillion—is roughly how many atoms exist in your body. Each of those atoms is billions of years old. Hydrogen, the most ubiquitous element of our universe, was forged by the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Other elements, such as carbon and oxygen, were cast by exploding stars between 7 and 12 billion years ago—thrown on the wheel of time and space, kneaded by evolution into the shape of you. 

These atoms combine into molecules and cells, including the 30 trillion human cells that make up your body. Every second, you create 25 million of them—replicas produced by the templates of your specific DNA. But those are not the only cells that make up your body. Your microbiome alone has 39 trillion cells of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live on and within you. You may be classified as a single species, but you are “host” to as many as 1,000. And while your cells hold 20-25,000 genes, your microbiome contains 500 times more. So what are “you” really?

You are akin to a planet. Within your body are different climates that give rise to different types of ecosystems. Within these different environments live varying types of species that altogether make up your microbiome. The swampy atmosphere of your armpits and feet play host to an entirely different cadre of life than the caverns of your gut and the cold tundras of your hands. But even between similar habitats, there is diversity to be found; for example, the palm of your right hand shares only a sixth of the same microbial species as that of your left hand. 

More research is being uncovered that links the health of our gut microbiome and our overall physical and mental health. The microbiota that live there support our human cells in breaking down toxins, absorbing nutrients from food, and storing fat. They help replenish dying and damaged cells along the linings of our gut and skin. And they play a crucial role in our immune system, our native microbes detecting and defending against potentially harmful intruders. The communities we contain—or perhaps, are a part of—shape and protect our wellbeing.

In his book I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, author Ed Yong writes: “Even when we are alone, we are never alone. We exist in symbiosis—a wonderful term that refers to different organisms living together. Some animals are colonized by microbes while they are still unfertilized eggs; others pick up their first partners at the moment of birth. We then proceed through our lives in their presence. When we eat, so do they. When we travel, they come along. When we die, they consume us. Every one of us is a zoo in our own right— a colony enclosed within a single body. A multi-species collective. An entire world.”

And so it is worlds we are talking about when we see statistics like the 17,177 Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli bombardment on Gaza since Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7. What’s more is that 40% of deaths in Gaza are reported to be children: realms but freshly formed. Every life is a planet lost, a failure of the international community—our global microbiome—to protect the very fabric of our own by standing united for a permanent ceasefire.

To be human is to be something larger than ourselves. Atoms as old as the universe, all cast by the same conflict. Consortiums of cells generating and regenerating, flesh and memories, hurting and healing in ways the world may never see. Bodies of water and air conducting electrical currents and emotions, acting and reacting, fighting and seeking forgiveness. Collectives of species working in concert, entire communities falling in love and apart. Worlds to be saved.