Podcast appearances and mentions of david relman

I got the opportunity to talk to Dr. David Relman, the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor in Medicine, and in Microbiology & Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. We talked about a range of topics from his lactose intolerance research and investigating if probiotics can help your gut to biosecurity concerns and trying to come out of his dad's shadow. ----------------------------------------- Thanks to the sponsors: Audible: Use my link for a 30-day free trial: http://audibletrial.com/diamondgoat Newsly: https://newsly.mepromo code to receive a 1-month free premium subscription: EARLYMORNING Libysn https://libsyn.compromo code: DG Dubby Energy https://www.dubby.ggpromo code for 10% off: DIAMONDGOAT spikeview https://www.spikeview.comhttps://www.instagram.com/spikeview ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen on: Podcast website: https://anchor.fm/diamondgoat Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EuhA6WyuerHtVAqcFrFeO Google Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80NzE4MzM5MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/dg-earlymorning-show-WoML4r Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/dg-early-morning-show Podcast YT channel clips: https://www.youtube.com/@dgearlymorningshow Reason: https://reason.fm/podcast/dg-earlymorning-show Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dg-early-morning-show/id1575451533 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f050b86c-1dad-4bc3-b12f-6aa5fa62438c Tiktok: @dgearlymorningshow -------------------------------------- Check out my other stuff: Instagram: @itzdiamondgoat Twitter: @lildiamondgoat Main YT channel: youtube.com/diamondgoat Tiktok: @lildiamondgoat Soundcloud: @Lil Diamondgoat Spotify: @Lil Diamondgoat Merch store: https://diamondgoat.creator-spring.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/diamondgoat/support

Mark Pallen explains how exciting it was to be in microbial bioinformatics around the turn of the millennium, as we gained genomes for the first time from model organisms and fearsome pathogens. He recounts working with his hero David Relman on the genome sequencing of the strange slow-growing organism called Tropheryma whipplei in competition with a French team. Mark moved to Belfast in late 1999 collaborating with another Englishman working on the island of Ireland, Tim Foster in Dublin. Pallen describes the addictive exhilaration of using PSI-BLAST to find new sortases and sortase substrates across a range of new genomes—for him this was the bioinformatics equivalent of crack cocaine. He quotes the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead in saying that the goal of every scientist is to seek simplicity but distrust it. What Mark found was that in most organisms sortases were behaving quite differently from the rather simple scenario seen in Staphylococcus aureus. He made similar observations on the WXG100 proteins and type VII secretion, which he found in many new contexts quite different from the original context of ESAT-6 as an antigen in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mark makes clear that we still don't really fully understand the role of ESAT-6 twenty years on. The focus of Pallen's work then shifted to E. coli, where he described vestigial gene clusters for non-functional type III secretion systems in this model organism. He came to realize that E. coli K-12 was not handed to microbiologist by God as a model organism but was just another strain of E. coli and nothing special. Many of the earliest genomes to be sequenced came from worn-out lab strains. To counter this problem, Gordon Dougan at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute moved the focus to genome-sequencing freshly isolated minimally passaged isolates. With Brendan Wren, Pallen wrote a review article for nature, emphasizing the importance of adopting an eco-evo perspective when trying to interpret bacterial genomes. Around that time, Scott Beatson joined Pallen's group. Mark managed to persuade Scott to work on type III secretion in E. coli rather than Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The result was the discovery of dozens of new type III secretion effectors, tying together bioinformatics and lab work to culminate in a PNAS paper. References - https://microbinfie.github.io/2022/06/09/bioinformatics-in-the-noughties.html

Since 2016, a number of U.S. diplomats and federal employees have reported symptoms of a mysterious illness, the so-called Havana Syndrome.The list of symptoms include hearing loud sounds, nausea fatigue, and dizzying migraines, among others. The cause of this mystery illness is a source of curiosity, but it remains unknown.Last year the State Department commissioned a study by the National Academies of Sciences for researchers to investigate Havana Syndrome.NPR's Sarah McCammon spoke to Dr. David Relman, a Stanford professor who headed the investigation.One possible cause their group came to was a form of microwave radiation that occurs in a pulsed or intermittent form. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Since 2016, a number of U.S. diplomats and federal employees have reported symptoms of a mysterious illness, the so-called Havana Syndrome.The list of symptoms include hearing loud sounds, nausea fatigue, and dizzying migraines, among others. The cause of this mystery illness is a source of curiosity, but it remains unknown.Last year the State Department commissioned a study by the National Academies of Sciences for researchers to investigate Havana Syndrome.NPR's Sarah McCammon spoke to Dr. David Relman, a Stanford professor who headed the investigation.One possible cause their group came to was a form of microwave radiation that occurs in a pulsed or intermittent form. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Rick and Dr. David Relman discuss the implications of Biden's COVID-19 origins report.

Just how did the Covid-19 pandemic spread to humans? It’s a question that for many already seemed to have an answer, but in recent weeks a growing number of scientists -- and now even the president -- are calling for a second look. On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we reexamine the competing theories about the origin of the virus that causes Covid-19. Guests:  Dr. David Relman, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology, Stanford University Josh Rogin, foreign policy columnist, Washington Post | author, “Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi and the Battle for the 21st Century”  Host: Keith Menconi  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. David Relman, a professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his view that more investigation is needed into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Dr. Relman also explains why stronger controls on research that involves pathogens with pandemic potential are urgently needed.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the value of genomic data for population health efforts. However, the US lags behind other nations in sequencing genetic data. David Relman, MD—professor of Microbiology at Stanford University and member of the standing committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Threats at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine—explains the benefits of genomic sequencing and explores ways that the US can catch up in this field.

It’s a highly controversial and unlikely hypothesis. But, as Dr. David Relman explains, we can't rule it out, because we still don't know the original source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gary takes on the real issues that the mainstream media is afraid to tackle. Tune in to find out the latest about health news, healing, politics, and the economy.   The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Psychological Coup d’Etat   Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD Progressive Radio Network, January 25, 2021     We have almost reached a full year since the spread of SARS-Cov2 was proclaimed a pandemic.  If we are to believe the World Health Organization’s and individual governments’ official statistics, the number of confirmed cases is reaching 100 million with over 2 million deaths. Indeed, if these numbers can be relied upon, we can surely acknowledge there is a real pandemic. It would be common sense, therefore, to expect, in fact demand, international health agencies and governments to make every effort to identify the virus’ origin.  Suspicions that the virus, now responsible for the spectrum of medical symptoms known as Covid-19, may have been bioengineered and escaped from a maximum security BSL-4 lab in Wuhan, China, were already voiced within a month after its identification was first reported.   Several highly respected medical experts, including Dr. David Relman at Stanford University, have suggested there is a strong likelihood that the virus escaped the Wuhan facility. To date, early queries about its origins remain unanswered and new questions are mounting.    Recently, Jamie Metzl, a WHO advisor who earlier served under Biden in the Senate and in Bill Clinton’s National Security Council and State Department, told the Toronto Sun that the hypothesis of the virus’ natural origin in a Wuhan wet market is “a lie.”  It is no secret, Metzl noted, that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was heavily engaged in “gain of function” research to “amplify the virility of viruses.”   That there is very reasonable evidence that coronaviruses were being engineered in a laboratory goes back to 2003 and perhaps earlier.  That year, many Russian medical scientists, including Moscow’s head epidemiologist Dr. Nikolai Filatov, shared their opinions that the first SARS outbreak originated from a bioweapons lab.   In January 2020, less than a month since the first reported case in Wuhan, Dr. Igor Nikulin, a former member of the United Nation’s Commission on Biological and Chemical Weapons, stated in an interview that the US has been funding biolaboratories throughout the world, such as Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taiwan, Philippines, etc, and “wherever there are these American biolaboratories, or near them, there are outbreaks of new diseases, often unknown.” This was also confirmed by the founding president of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr. Peter Daszak, a fundamental player in the saga of “gain of function” research on coronavirus and other viral pathogens.  During an interview at a scientific conference in Singapore in early December 2019, Daszak, less than a month before the first Covid-19 case in Wuhan, stated,   “You can manipulate them in the lab pretty easily… Spike protein drives a lot of what happens with the coronavirus. Zoonotic risk. So you can get the sequence, you can build the protein — and we work with Ralph Baric at [the University of North Carolina] to do this — and insert the backbone of another virus and do some work in the lab.”   Baric, by the way, told New York Magazine, “Can you rule out a laboratory escape? The answer in this case is probably not.”  Baric has first hand knowledge of this probability. In 2016, one of the researchers in his University of North Carolina biosafety Level 3 lab was bitten by a mouse infected with a bioengineered SARS coronavirus strain.  Worse, according to records obtained by ProPublica, the scientist was permitted to resume her life without quarantine.   Baric’s lab also encountered other incidents that could have potentially released its engineered viruses upon the American public, however the university has refused to provide details.  Back in 2015, Baric had warned that a bat virus could jump species and infect humans.    In a study published in October 2003 for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Baric and his colleagues had “assembled a full-length cDNA of the SARS-CoV Urbani strain, and have rescued molecularly cloned SARS viruses (infectious clone SARS-CoV) that contained the expected marker mutations inserted into their component clones.”  This infectious coronavirus clone was subsequently patented but only after the CDC overruled the US Patent Office’s denial of issuance. That same year, Bill Gates appointed Anthony Fauci to serve on his foundation’s Global Grand Challenges Scientific Advisory Board.  Shortly thereafter efforts commenced to develop a SARS-CoV vaccine, which included Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. To date, Moderna has been granted over 130 federal US patents to develop a vaccine against SARSCoV-2, including a military DARPA grant for mRNA vaccine technology in 2013.   EcoHealth Alliance, according to Alexis Baden-Mayer, lead attorney and director for the Organic Consumers Association, has conducted remarkable investigative research into the “gain of function” studies and the primary individuals behind the overseeing and funding this research. She has discovered that the majority of EcoHealth’s funding derives from the US Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health and Anthony Fauci.  Baden-Mayer’s probing inquiries uncovered a cabal of controversial figures, including Daszak, Baric and his Chinese colleague Dr. Shi Zheng-li at the Wuhan lab, Bill Gate’s Foundation director Scott Dowell, former Human and Health Services’ director Dr. Robert Kadlec and Anthony Fauci.  Together this group – a part of what journalist Brian Berletic has called the Pandemic Industrial Complex- has been engaged in private contracts with military bioweapons projects and virus hunting in the wild for “gain of function” studies for a couple decades.    Curiously, there is another character deeply connected with Daszak and the “gain of function” studies sponsored by EcoHealth: David R Franz.  Franz serves as EcoHealth’s policy health advisor. According to Baden-Mayer, who has investigated Franz’s history and background, he was formally a commander at Ft. Detrick’s bioweapons laboratory that was working on “gain of function” studies on pathogens for developing bioweapons. He was also involved in the anthrax investigations shortly after 911, and was a colleague of Dr. Bruce Ivin who was accused for the release of encapsulated anthrax aerosol mailed to Congressional legislators shortly after his mysterious death.    Recently, Dr. David Martin – founder of the company M-CAM and a fellow at the University of Virginia’s School of Business Management – released his dossier on Anthony Fauci summarizing over two decades of investigations into the very disturbing research and patents filed for “synthetically altering the Coronaviridae (the coronavirus family) for the express purpose of general research, pathogenic enhancement, detection, manipulation and potential therapeutic interventions.” Before the first SARS outbreak in 2003, Baric filed a patent for producing “an infectious, replication defective, coronavirus.” In other words, the University the North Carolina, with federal grants, was amplifying a coronavirus to make it more infectious.    Despite the questionable nature of this patent’s and others’ filing status by the CDC, and because patent law forbids patenting any life form, the government and its laboratories sealed under contract, cornered the coronavirus market. In the event of a coronavirus outbreak, only those corporations or institutions that acquired licensure from the NIH would be permitted to work with these bioengineered viruses for developing therapeutic drugs and vaccines.   Controversy has arisen over the confusion about the actual number of Covid-19 deaths and whether or not many if not most deaths are due to other causes.  Deaths in the presence of SARS2 are not the same as deaths due to the virus.  We heard this narrative repeated before and stated directly by the CDC back in 2003.  During the first SARS outbreak, the CDC in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report dated April 4, 2003 stated that “anyone showing signs of fever or respiratory symptoms who travelled in or near areas affected by the virus would be labeled a SARS patient despite many of these individuals being diagnosed with other respiratory illnesses.”    David Martin has released his “The Fauci/Covid-19 Dossier,” a 205 page document citing specific charges against the CDC, Dr. Anthony Fauci and his National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease, and individuals engaged in coronavirus “gain of function” research for funding and allegedly conspiring to commit acts of terror, lying to Congress, conspiring to engage in criminal commercial activity, illegal clinical trials and market manipulation and allocation. These are serious charges and the data Martin has collated is near conclusive and deeply disturbing. The Dossier has been filed with the US Attorney General, and is essential reading for everyone to understand the details about how the current pandemic may be an orchestrated strategy unraveling over the course of twenty years.     During a recent video appearance, Dr. Martin condensed the background of alleged corruption, illegal patents and preparatory planning for the pandemic long before the outbreak. Speaking at the February 2016 Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events, Daszak stated,   “… until an infectious disease crisis is very real, present, and at an emergency threshold, it is often largely ignored. To sustain the funding base beyond the crisis, we need to increase public understanding of the need for MCMs [Medical Counter Measures] such as a pan-influenza or pan-coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media, and the economics follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of process.”    It is important to observe how Daszak lays out a strategy for a coronavirus or influenza pandemic to be framed as a commercial opportunity for the benefit of corporations and their investors, and the role the media will play in maximizing such profit.  In retrospect, Daszak’s scenario has played out accurately according to plan. Worse, the pandemic is now being manipulated by the World Economic Forum, the IMF, Bill Gates and the transnational class of corporate and banking elites, as well as the Biden administration and the Chinese, British, Canadian and German governments, as an opportunity to completely restructure the global economy. This will necessitate a thorough overall of the entire economic system thereby strengthening the global institutionalization of commercial oversight that will eventually nullify the independence of the modern nation state.   Martin’s Dossier continues to outline a series of purported illegal actions to deal with the pandemic that Fauci has undertaken as head of NIAID. These include 1) acting against the American Medical Association’s April 2020 recommendation that “face masks should not be worn by healthy individuals from acquiring respiratory infections because there is no evidence to suggest that face masks worn by healthy individuals are effective in preventing people from becoming ill.” 2) acting against existing published studies that show “to date, not a single study has confirmed that social distancing of any population prevented the transmission of, or the infection by SARS CoV-2.” And 3) in violation of FTC Act 15 U.S.C. 41, no product or service can be advertised to “prevent, treat or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable evidence… substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made.”  This third point applies to NIAID’s promotion of face masks as well as Fauci’s aggressive push to make the drug Remdesivir, which Fauci is personally financially invested in, as a first line for treatment.    If these charges of illegal activity against sound scientific evidence, are true, they warrant a thorough investigation in an international criminal court to determine their motivations.  The mishandling of the pandemic has caused enormous suffering and deaths for billions of people. Lives and livelihoods have been completely upended and our leaders are telling us things will never return to the old normal. In the meantime, the dominant forces of capitalism, aside from profiting over this catastrophe, are now framing the pandemic as an opportunity that will further reconfigure all of our social structures, including commerce, education, transportation and monitoring healthcare. It is a coup d’état against civilization’s collective psyche to foment a regime change in behavior that will eventually turn humanity into the slaves of technology as a means for social conditioning. Our only weapon against the likes of Fauci, Gates, and the transnational class of elites is educating ourselves of the damning investigations being conducted by individuals such as Dr. David Martin, Alexis Baden-Mayer, Reiner Fuellmich, Robert Kennedy Jr and others who are making every effort to shed light on the darkness in Washington and governments around the world determined to launch a Brave New World.  

A National Academies panel commissioned by the State Department shed new light on a disturbing and still mysterious episode. Employees in the Cuban embassy reported headaches, pressure, nausea, strange piercing noises, and cognitive problems seeming to emanate from a directed source. Commerce Department employees in China also had similar experiences. Some still haven't fully recovered from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 occurrences. For more on the panel's charter and what it found, Federal Drive with Tom Temin gave a wide ranging interview to the committee chair, of which you're about to hear an excerpt. Dr. David Relman is a professor at Stanford Medical School and chief of infectious diseases at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs health system. He discussed some of what hampered the investigation.

COVID-19 has established itself around the globe and will be with us for the foreseeable future. What do we know about the virus so far, and what makes it unique? Michelle Mello is a professor of law and medicine at Stanford whose research focuses on law, ethics, and health policy. David Relman is a professor in the departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at FSI. In this episode, Mello and Relman discuss what scientists have learned about the virus, the U.S. response to the pandemic on both a state and national level, and lessons that can be learned from the global response.

COVID-19 has established itself around the globe and will be with us for the foreseeable future. What do we know about the virus so far, and what makes it unique? Michelle Mello is a professor of law and medicine at Stanford whose research focuses on law, ethics, and health policy. David Relman is a professor in the departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at FSI. In this episode, Mello and Relman discuss what scientists have learned about the virus, the U.S. response to the pandemic on both a state and national level, and lessons that can be learned from the global response.

The coronavirus has infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000 since it was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late December. Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies experts Karen Eggleston and David Relman join host Michael McFaul to discuss what you should know about the virus, its impact on China and the world, and whether there is any truth to the rumors about its origins.

The coronavirus has infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000 since it was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late December. Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies experts Karen Eggleston and David Relman join host Michael McFaul to discuss what you should know about the virus, its impact on China and the world, and whether there is any truth to the rumors about its origins.

Biosecurity threats are often overlooked. For years scientists have been saying that the world is overdue for a pandemic, and there's an ongoing risk that terrorists or nation states might weaponize diseases. If that's not worrying enough, the risks of pandemics increase as climate change worsens. What steps are we taking to understand and prepare for the next outbreak? David Relman is a senior fellow and Megan Palmer a senior research scholar at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. They are part of an interdisciplinary research initiative working to assess the threats posed by biological agents. In this wide-ranging conversation with Michael McFaul, Relman and Palmer unpack the complex issues, and offer their perspectives on how best to counter these threats.

Biosecurity threats are often overlooked. For years scientists have been saying that the world is overdue for a pandemic, and there's an ongoing risk that terrorists or nation states might weaponize diseases. If that's not worrying enough, the risks of pandemics increase as climate change worsens. What steps are we taking to understand and prepare for the next outbreak? David Relman is a senior fellow and Megan Palmer a senior research scholar at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. They are part of an interdisciplinary research initiative working to assess the threats posed by biological agents. In this wide-ranging conversation with Michael McFaul, Relman and Palmer unpack the complex issues, and offer their perspectives on how best to counter these threats.

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: "David Relman: What dolphins can teach us about our own health" On the Future of Everything radio show, an infectious disease expert discusses how the microbes in the sea mammal’s mouths help us understand our own relationship with bacteria. Originally aired on SiriusXM on January 27, 2018. Recorded at Stanford Video.

From weaponized anthrax to killer strains of bird flu, we often hear only the worst of the worst when it comes to the microbes who share our world. The truth, however, is far from horrific. Bacteria do far more good for us than bad, and most viruses are harmless. In this episode, host Russ Altman, professor of bioengineering, talks to infectious disease expert David Relman about his studies of one very specific microbiome—the mouths of dolphins—which have revealed many types of bacteria previously unknown to science. Relman offers a sobering (and encouraging) assessment of risks and benefits of getting to know the microbial world. The discussion that touches on everything from biosecurity to microceuticals to do-it-yourself fecal transplants.

Scientific American health and medicine correspondent Dina Fine Maron talks with Armand Sprecher of Doctors Without Borders, who has fought Ebola in Guinea and Liberia. And Steve talks Ebola with Stanford's David Relman, chair of the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine  

In episode 51 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Washington, D.C., on February 18, 2011, Dr. Stan Maloy talks with David Relman, M.D., Thomas M. and Joan C. Merigan Professor, Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases, and Department of Microbiology & Immunology in the Stanford University School of Medicine.Maloy and Relman discuss microbial flora in the mouth and gut and why they are important for human health. They explore the impact of antibiotics and probiotics on the community of microbes in the gut and their health implications both negative and positive. Lastly they look at the future of probiotics in personalized medicine and the potential for individualized treatment based on the uniqueness of a person's gut flora.

In episode 51 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Washington, D.C., on February 18, 2011, Dr. Stan Maloy talks with David Relman, M.D., Thomas M. and Joan C. Merigan Professor, Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases, and Department of Microbiology & Immunology in the Stanford University School of Medicine.Maloy and Relman discuss microbial flora in the mouth and gut and why they are important for human health. They explore the impact of antibiotics and probiotics on the community of microbes in the gut and their health implications both negative and positive. Lastly they look at the future of probiotics in personalized medicine and the potential for individualized treatment based on the uniqueness of a person's gut flora. Don't miss an episode of MicrobeWorld Video. Subscribe for free using iTunes or help support our work by purchasing the MicrobeWorld podcast application for iPhone and Android devices in the iTunes or Android app stores.

In episode 51 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Washington, D.C., on February 18, 2011, Dr. Stan Maloy talks with David Relman, M.D., Thomas M. and Joan C. Merigan Professor, Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases, and Department of Microbiology & Immunology in the Stanford University School of Medicine.Maloy and Relman discuss microbial flora in the mouth and gut and why they are important for human health. They explore the impact of antibiotics and probiotics on the community of microbes in the gut and their health implications both negative and positive. Lastly they look at the future of probiotics in personalized medicine and the potential for individualized treatment based on the uniqueness of a person's gut flora. Don't miss an episode of MicrobeWorld Video. Subscribe for free using iTunes or help support our work by purchasing the MicrobeWorld podcast application for iPhone and Android devices in the iTunes or Android app stores.

David Relman is a Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford University, and his research program focuses on the human microbiome – the microbial communities of bacteria, viruses, and other organisms that thrive on and in the human body. He’ll be speaking at ASM’s conference on Beneficial Microbes in San Diego this October, where he’ll talk about our personal microbial ecosystems, how far we’ve come in research and how far we have to go. Since Louis Pasteur first deduced that microbes are to blame for infectious disease, doctors and scientists alike have mostly seen infection as warfare between a pathogen and the human body. Dr. Relman sees things a little differently. To him, the complex communities of microbes that line our skin, mouths, intestines, and other orifices (ahem) are also involved in this battle, interacting with pathogens and with our bodies, and these interactions help determine how a fracas plays out. In this interview, I asked Dr. Relman about our personal ecosystems of microbes, whether we’ll ever be able to understand and predict what these communities do, and about the sometimes distressing effects of oral antibiotics on our guts. We also talked about whether being MTV’s Rock Doctor back in the 1990’s had an impact on his other professional pursuits.

In this episode, Stanford's David Relman talks about the microbial life that lives on and in humans. Princeton's Andrew Dobson discusses the importance of parasites to an ecosystem. And former National Science Foundation director Rita Colwell mentions a low-tech practice with big public health implications. All from a conference on microbes and the environment at the American Museum of Natural History. Plus we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned on this episode include www.amnh.org/biodiversity.