“We are walking ecosystems”: Our symbiotic relationships with microbes, with Jake Robinson

Jake Robinson is a microbial ecologist and researcher whose career spans parasitology, symbiosis, and the study of invisible communities of life that shape the health of humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. He is the author of Invisible Friends: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us , and his work explores the connections between soil health, gut health and mental health. We spoke with Jake about the brutal world of microbe warfare that’s going on every day inside our bodies, what it means to see humans and plants as “walking ecosystems”, how microbes underpin communication between the gut and the brain, the importance of exposure to microbes for training our immune system, how farming practices can influence the nutritional value of our food, and just how much of this invisible world remains unknown to science. Jake is the brains behind Soil Yourself September, a series of talks from speakers around the world on the connections between soil health, gut health and mental health. Find out more at Get in touch - info@soilsforlife.org.au

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“We are walking ecosystems”: Our symbiotic relationships with microbes, with Jake Robinson is an episode from Soils For Life by Soils For Life.

This episode is 00:34:01 long.

This episode was published on Sep 2, 2025.

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