Dark Matter

An urgent investigation into a brave new world in science - the microbiome - and how it could save our health.

The microbiome is the missing link in modern medicine, a vast genetic universe of 'dark matter' - bacteria, yeasts, viruses and parasites - that lives inside us. It conducts the orchestra of our immune system, adapts with us as we age and influences how we think and feel, our sex lives and even how fast we run.

In this mindblowing book, scientist and surgeon James Kinross explains how the organisms that live within us have helped us evolve, shaped our biology and defined the success of our species. But just as we have discovered this delicate and complex ecosystem within us, it is being irrevocably destroyed through antibiotic addition, industrial food production, the globalisation of our diets and lifestyles, and the destruction of our environment.

This pioneering book is both a guide to hacking the microbiome for a healthier life and a call to protect the most vulnerable human ecosystem of all.