The microbes that live in your body outnumber your cells 10 to one. Recent studies suggest these tiny organisms help us digest food and maintain our immune system. Now, researchers have discovered yet another way microbes keep us healthy: They are needed for closing the blood-brain barrier, a molecular fence that shuts out pathogens and molecules that could harm the brain.

The findings suggest that a woman’s diet or exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy may influence the development of this barrier. The work could also lead to a better understanding of multiple sclerosis, in which a leaky blood-brain barrier may set the stage for a decline in brain function. (1)

Accept your enemies.
They could be your best friends.
Jesus said it.
And now medicine backs him up.
Open your brain to bacteria.
So as to shield it.
Accept the illogical.
It could be the sanest thing you ever did…