The human gastrointestinal tract is in a constant state of flux; it hosts a diverse and dynamic community of microbes known as the gut microbiome, and is constantly exposed to things in the ...

This story is part of a series exploring human anatomy and physiology complexities. Each story in this collection showcases discoveries reshaping our understanding of the body's inner workings, ...

The gut microbiome is an important ecosystem of microbes that lives in each one of us, and its strength affects our overall health. However, the small intestine is an underappreciated part of the gut ...

When it comes to intestines, it sure seems like two are better than one. I asked my friend Franck Carbonero why that is. He’s a microbiologist at Washington State University. He studies the bacteria ...

The US humorist Christopher Morley once described the human body as “an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing”. He wasn’t wrong: from our cardiovascular and lymphatic systems to our guts and urinary ...

SIBO is when bacteria that normally live in your colon start growing too much in your small intestine. Diagnosing SIBO is tricky. There’s no perfect test, and symptoms like bloating and gas can be ...

An enteroscopy is a procedure that uses a flexible tube called an endoscope to examine inside the small intestine. Enteroscopy is a nonsurgical procedure to diagnose and manage conditions of the small ...