“For most of the story of the Earth, microbes were the only living things.”

“It is said that we live in the Anthropocene (…) You could equally say that we are still living in the Microbiocene:a period that started at the dawn of life itself and will continue to its very end.”

“Animals might be evolution’s icing, but bacteria are really the cake.”

“[If all microbes would die] We predict complete societal collapse within a year or so, linked to catastrophic failure of the food supply chain.”

“MICROBES MATTER”

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong