Inspired by Giulia and Jill Enders bestselling book, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ (2014), this exhibition tells the incredible story of microbiota, more commonly known as gut flora, where billions of bacteria live and contribute to the healthy functioning of our organism.
The exhibition visit is divided into three parts.
1 - Guided tour of digestion
Our digestive organs are busy converting what we eat into the energy we need to live. From the mouth to the anus, they use ingenious mechanisms and the movements that produce burps and farts can be as elegant as a ballet dancer’s!
In the first part of the exhibition you will start with a tour of the digestive process in real images, then penetrate into the secrets of each organ involved in it.
2 - Microbiota in the limelight
Gut microbiota is made of billions of organisms - bacteria, yeasts, archaea and viruses. Nowhere else in our body can we find such a variety of species, shapes and families. And scientific research has shown that gut microbiota can impact our weight, our allergies, our immune system, and even our behaviour.
The second part of the exhibition is an immersive visit in the universe of gut microbes.
3 - Gut health
A healthy equilibrium of microbiota contains a great variety of different microbes. From our earliest childhood, our stomachs are home to a population that evolves throughout our lives. Our microbiotic destiny is forged over the years by what we eat, what we put in our mouths, where we live and the people we kiss.
This last part of the exhibition provides practical tips that we can apply in our daily lives to preserve the small world that lives inside us.