ѿý

Use ѿý.com or the new ѿý App to listen to ѿý podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Episode details

Radio 4,1 min

Early evidence for “mood microbes”

The Second Genome

Available for over a year

One of the key studies that ignited the whole field took place in Japan in 2004. The team at Kyushu University bred both normal mice and those completely free of microbes. The researchers then put the animals in highly stressful situations. Those without microbes pumped out twice the amount of stress hormone. It was an inspiration for Jane Foster, a neuropsychiatrist at McMaster University in Canada.

Programme Website
More episodes