There are about a hundred trillion microbes living inside your gut -- protecting you from infection, aiding digestion and regulating your immune system. As our bodies have adapted to life in modern society, we've started to lose some of our normal microbes; at the same time, diseases linked to a loss of diversity in microbiome are skyrocketing in developed nations. Computational microbiologist Dan Knights shares some intriguing discoveries about the differences in the microbiomes of people in developing countries compared to the US, and how they might affect our health. Learn more about the world of microbes living inside you -- and the work being done to create tools to restore and replenish them.

Dan Knights: How we study the microbes living in your gut

How we study the microbes living in your gut

Modern lifestyle shifts lead to a loss in gut microbial diversity, correlating with a rise in diseases like obesity and diabetes.

Moving from natural habitats to captivity, both animals and humans show a striking loss in essential gut microbiome diversity.

Restoring our microbiome through diet and probiotics may hold the key to combating modern diseases linked to microbial loss.