Bacteria!

My sister once told me that itches on my skin were all the bacteria moving around.

"They need a new position so they make you itch." 

"There's bacteria on my skin?"

"Yup.  You're covered all these moving, slimy bacteria!"

I wasn't so much horrified as intrigued.

Turns out, my ten year old sister wasn't totally incorrect.  I ran across a picture today from Scientific American that outlines where and what kinds of bacteria live on the human body.  I had never seen it laid out this way and was totally fascinated!  Some highlights were the well known H. pylori and E. coli of our digestive tracts, but I wasn't aware of S. salivarius (in your mouth!) or S. epidermidis (on the skin!).  It's a fascinating little picture - check it out here!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=microbiome-graphic-explore-human-microbiome