The origin of asthma, autism, Alzheimer’s, allergies, cancer, heart disease, obesity, and even depression revealed. Award-winning researcher on the microbiome, professor Rodney Dietert presents a new paradigm in human biology based on the latest results from around the world that are transforming medicine as it grapples with the global epidemic of noncommunicable diseases. The Human Superorganism makes a sweeping, paradigm-shifting argument. It demolishes two fundamental beliefs that have blinkered all medical thinking until very recently: 1) Humans are better off as pure organisms free of foreign microbes; and 2) the human genome is the key to future medical advances. The microorganisms that we have sought to eliminate have been there for centuries supporting our ancestors. They comprise 90 percent of the cells in and on our bodies—a staggering percentage! More than a thousand species of them live inside us, on our skin, and on our very eyelashes. Yet we have now significantly reduced ...

About the Author

Rodney Dietert is Professor of Immunotoxicology at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He received his Ph.D. in immunogenetics from the University of Texas at Austin. Among his authored and edited academic books are: Strategies for Protecting Your Child’s Immune System and Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfunction, and Chronic Disease. Rodney previously directed Cornell’s Graduate Program in Immunology, the ...