ANCIENT Egyptians would have considered it bizarre to contemplate whether the brain might contain our mind: for them, the heart was the repository for our thoughts and wisdom. Likewise, not so long ago, it would have seemed ridiculous to wonder what the bacteria living in our guts were doing, never mind consider their connection to depression or our ability to fight disease.
Now, of course, we know that our microbiome is vital to both mental and physical health. And although we are still some way off understanding how our brains give rise to consciousness, there can be no doubt that asking questions about the strangest aspects of our physiology can lead to some seriously helpful insights 鈥� as we discover in our special feature exploring the mysteries of the human body, starting on 鈥�A new understanding of how your blood type influences your health鈥�.
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Most recently, knowledge gained by investigating bacteria that live in the gut has led researchers to question what is going on with the other microbes residing within us. What are all those fungi doing in there (鈥淟ooking after the fungi in your gut could be key to better health鈥�)?
The emerging answer is that, just like the bacteria that call your body home, the fungi living inside you are not only linked with serious infections and some cancers, but can also help prevent common conditions like diarrhoea and thrush. All of which leads to the tantalising possibility that we could one day manipulate them to improve health, just as we are trying to do with gut bacteria.
It is just one example of how questions about what might seem to be irrelevant aspects of our bodies 鈥� from why they are so asymmetrical (鈥淭he surprising benefits of having an asymmetrical face, body and brain鈥�) and whether we possess pheromones (鈥淭he peculiar discoveries reviving the search for human pheromones鈥�) to why we have cells from siblings inside us (Cells from other family members live in you and protect your health) and what taste buds are doing in testicles (鈥淲hy do we have taste buds in our heart and testicles?鈥�) 鈥� are more valuable than we think.
Investigating such peculiarities can reveal fresh insights into our evolutionary past, open doors to new treatments and even change how we think about what it is to be human. So we should encourage more bizarre inquiries 鈥� the answers they throw up are rarely silly.
