Underestimated for a very long time, our intestine hosts thousands of microbes. This microbiota plays a role in digestion, the immune system, and behavior. The eponymous exhibition, adapted from the successful book, written by Giulia Enders and illustrated by her sister Jill Enders, reveals recent discoveries on the intestinal microbiota and the importance of it being balanced.
The intestine and its fascinating microcosms! We are an ecosystem, living in symbiosis with our microbes. Discovering and understanding this allows us to take care of our bodies and our health.
Appetizer: guided tour of digestion
What are our digestive organs doing all the livelong day? They are busy converting a great many things – an apple, bread, and an egg – into the energy we need to live.
What ingenious mechanisms do they use? Where precisely are these organs located and how can we help them do their job well? Start with a tour of our digestion in real images, and then penetrate into the secrets of each organ. Funny, clear, precise, and illustrated explanations by the Enders sisters inspire this explorative journey of the digestive tract. Interactive elements reveal the role and functioning of each organ.
Microbiota in the limelight
Imagine that you are as small as minuscule intestinal villi. The gut would look like a forest filled with billions of exotic organisms: bacteria, yeasts, archaea, and viruses. Nowhere else in our body can we find such a huge variety of species and families. This is what is called the gut microbiota.
Scientific research has shown that these bacteria can influence our weight, our allergies, our immune system, and even our behavior. Moreover, we each have our own individual population of microbes. Welcome to the universe of gut microbes!
Gut health
Just as the vast world in which we live has an impact on us, so the small world that lives inside us, in our gut, influences us too. 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.
Each person’s microbiota is slightly different. This last section of the exhibition provides practical tips, based on scientific discoveries that you can apply in your daily lives.
VR and App Content
General Information
Created In
2018
Available Package Options
Turnkey
Languages
English
Spanish
French
German
Other
Venues
Past and Future Venues
2021-2022, 5 months, Heilbronn - Germany
2019-2020, 10 months, Lisbon - Portugal
2018-2019, 10 months, Paris - France
Extra Info
Highlights Details
Discover the real look of the human digestive organs by looking at plastinated organs
Examine the anatomy of the human body by handling a touchscreen display running on an interactive and intuitive software
Touch and examine microbiota in a model. It will tell you all about its composition
Get acquainted with gut bacteria and learn about their role by watching a fun interactive movie
Try the multimedia game to choose which foods to eat to reach the recommended 30 grams a day