Bacteria provide squids with "invisibility cloaks" via bioluminescence and allow beetles to consume entire forests.
Yong broadens the scope beyond human health to show how these partnerships define the natural world: I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us an...
Rather than acting as a brute defense against intruders, the immune system is described as an instrument for managing microbial co-existence. Resident microbes "educate" the immune system, helping it distinguish between friend and foe. I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us an...