#74: The Microscopic House Guest
The modern American home is a wilderness: there are thousands of species of insects, bacteria, fungi, and plants that lurk in our floorboards, on our counters, and inside our kitchen cabinets\u2014not to mention the microbes that flavor our food itself. The trouble with wilderness, however, is that humans always want to tame it. Cleaning, bleaching, sterilizing, and killing the organisms in our homes has had unintended\u2014and dangerous\u2014consequences for our health and the environment. Biologist Rob Dunn, a professor in the department of applied ecology at North Carolina State University, joins us to impart some manners about how to welcome these formerly unknown guests into our homes.
Go beyond the episode:
- Rob Dunn\u2019s Never Home Alone
- Dig deeper into the experiments mentioned in the show, like the sourdough project or the world\u2019s largest survey of showerheads
- Cat people: track your cat to reveal its secret life\u2014and what it brings into your home\u2014in this citizen science project
- More opportunities to participate in scientific research about everything from belly button ecology to counting the crickets in your basement through Your Wild Life
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