Are you more human or more microbe?

You think of yourself as one person. Statistically, you’re a crowd.

Your body has about 37 trillion human cells. Sounds like a lot. But on you and inside you lives a whole ecosystem: roughly 38 trillion microorganisms — bacteria, fungi, viruses. Do the math: by cell count, you’re 51% microbe and 49% human.

And they’re not stowaways. Those microbes digest part of your food, train your immune system, and even sway your mood through your gut. Without them, you wouldn’t work.

So when you say “I,” you’re speaking in the plural. You’re less an individual and more an entire country of tiny beings that decided to live together — and to go by your name.