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Welcome to our next participant.

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Her name is Giulia Enders.

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She studies at the Goethe University 
in Frankfurt.

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Applause to Giulia Enders.

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The next 10 minutes are yours!

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(Applause)

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Okay, I study medicine --

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(Cheers)

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-- yes, exactly.

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And studying medicine 
really comes in handy 


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when i'm having coffee 
and tea with my aunties.

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Because usually they ask you 
what you study.

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And whereas my sister needs 
half an hour to explain

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what Communication Design is,

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I can just say:

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medicine.

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(Laughter)

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And my aunties just look at me 
all happy and satisfied.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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It is nice, but it lasts only 30 seconds, 


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and then the usual question:

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What field of medicine 
are you going to specialize in?

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And then I must confess:

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I have been crazy about the digestive tract 
since my first semester.

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It began with the anus,
and now I'm hooked to it!

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Suddenly all the enthusiasm trickles away,

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usually there ensues an awkward silence.

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And the next question comes 
from the far corner of the room:

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And what is Communication Design good for?

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(Laughter)

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It is a pity, because the bowels 
are very charming.

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(Laughter)

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I'm not sure what my aunties think.

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But I suspect they think 
it's about tons of poop

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(Laughter)

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in all shapes and sizes

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or about other people's excrements

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(Laughter)

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or about obscure cleansing methods

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that make us walk like this 
out of doctor's room

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or internet videos that are so graphic

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that it's quite enough to watch 
other people's reaction to them.

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Even science can find reasons

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to hate the bowel.

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But these are also the very reasons 
why the bowel is so fascinating:

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It's 100 times larger 
then the area of the skin.

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Just think of hundred Giulias 
standing here on this stage.

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Such a thin tube,

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with so much immune system inside,

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so many hormones produced,

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100 trillion gut bacteria,

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that's the number of humans 
times the number of humans


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times two.

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The gut has such a completely 
independent nervous system

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that if I cut out a piece and tap on it 


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it would just mumble a friendly reply.

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(Laughter)

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It's very complex 
and science is afraid of it,

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which is understandable,

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but my grandmother says 
that if you really like something,

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even if it is overwhelming 
in the beginning,

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you should approach it step by step,

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and then even if you step in a puddle,

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only one foot gets wet.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Let's begin. Here's the esophagus.

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It makes powerful movements 
and pushes the food downward.

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It falls into the stomach,

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which cradles and rocks it a bit,

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and feeds it into the small intestine,

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where it's sort of magically kneaded,

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diminishing in bulk during the process,

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then it passes through the colon

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and comes out from the anus, 
it all sounds so simple.

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But if we focus on a single process --

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-- I go for the anus --

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then we realize it's a bit more complex 
than expected.

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I actually didn't pick 
this subject on my own

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rather my roommate asked me:

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Giulia, you study medicine:

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How does pooping work?

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(Laughter)

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I have noticed that the anus 
is actually very communicative.

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It's an intermediate between 
two worlds of consciousness.

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Here's an internal sphincter

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and here's an external anal sphincter.

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We know the external one very well.

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Let's say: A - O - A - O

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Audience: A - O - A - O

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I meant with your anus.

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(Laughter)

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Probably many are doing it right now, 
we just don't see it.

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So, you see we can do it.

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If I say, now do the same --

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(Laughter)

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If I say, now do the same 
with your internal sphincter --

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-- it's more difficult.

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(Laughter)

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Perhaps somebody managed...

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But we can see there's a difference.

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It's not under our command.

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Let's take a look at the process:

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when digested food arrives 
at the internal sphincter,

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it opens up and lets a little morsel 
pass through for testing.

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(Laughter)

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And there are sensor cells 
in between the two sphincters.

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These cells analyze 
whether it is solid or gaseous 


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and notify the brain.

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(Laughter)

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And then the brain realizes:

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ah, I must poop.

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(Laughter)

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And the brain does what it's good at:

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It informs us of our surroundings.

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It might say, for example:

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well, I have looked,

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(Laughter)

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we are at the Science Slam right now,

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perhaps some gas is all right,

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if you let it pass very silently,

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but something solid 
would not be so good.

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(Laughter)

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So they unite their efforts 
and push it back in

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(Laughter)

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it goes back in the queue,

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but it has to come out, eventually.

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But when we are at home, 
with nothing better to do, 


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then -- free to go!

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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The anus is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Auntie 1: What did she say?

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Auntie 2: I think she said that the anus 
is just the tip of the iceberg.

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The anus is really 
just the tip of the iceberg.

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There are 2 cm that we perceive 
and that we can control

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and the whole rest --

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-- if we want to know what happens there

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we need to look at the border area.

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So we chose something which is 
both unconscious and conscious.

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There are 7 basic emotions 
that show on the face,

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they are same for all the people worldwide, 
in all cultures,

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here are 3 of them,

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fear,

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joy,

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sadness.

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These basic emotions show in our faces 
when we feel them

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and in the first split second 
we cannot suppress them.

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That reminds us a bit 
of our internal sphincter,

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which we cannot control 
consciously either,

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and that's not a far fetched comparison.

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For when we were little embryological 
heaps of cells in the womb

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there wasn't much of a face --

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- there was just the front opening 
of the intestinal tube.

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And finally it was decided: 
O.K., let's create a face around it,

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seems like people like it,

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so it was a part of this 
unconscious tube of muscle

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which is why we don't have perfect control 
over our facial expression.

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We can control our arm any time, 
but not our mimics.

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That brings up the question 
what the bowel does with all these emotions,

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if it feels fear,

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if it can laugh

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or be sad.

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And there we are touching 
on the deeper layers of the iceberg

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on the subconsciousness,

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and people start arguing,

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because many people believe that the bowels 
have no influence on our emotions,

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that they're just a bunch of cells,

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and the brain, the DNA and the genes 
are the cause of our feelings.

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So, there are two basic viewpoints:

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One being that the brain 
decides on an emotion

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and tells all other organs what to do,

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and the other being that the gut 
is also involved in our emotions,

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thoughts, and perhaps even our behavior.

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So let's just take something

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which has no connection 
with our genes and our DNA:

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this huge gut flora.

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So we have this whole population of bacteria 
inside of us,

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which can weigh up to 2 kg, 
which would be quite normal,

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and it's a collection of things, 
decisions, what we have eaten

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and the environment that surrounds us,

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our very own Pokemon collection 
of intestinal bacteria.

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I'd like to introduce you to all of them,

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but 60% of them we don't even know at all

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since we cannot cultivate them,

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they just like it so much in our gut,

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that we can't simply 
observe them in a Petri dish.

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But since they do have an influence,

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scientists began to research them 
intensively in the last years.

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Some basic things 
were already known before:

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they train our immune system,

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our blood type is determined 
by this training and influence,

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if we have really bad ones 
then we get bad diarrhea.

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But what about the discreet ones

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quietly doing their job all day long?

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So many different types operating 
in a huge variety of ways.

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What is their influence?

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And so we have another Babel,

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which is my passion,

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and about which we start 
asking ourselves many questions:

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If I have certain gut bacteria,

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will I get fatter than others even though 
I eat the same food as them?

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Can I become depressed 
because of some kinds of gut bacteria?

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Do some gut bugs protect me from cancer

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while others promote it?

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And most of these questions 
are getting answered positively.

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And this field is so interesting,

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it's constantly on my mind.

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I have been in neuroscience in Frankfurt 
for the last half a year,

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and we are doing experiments 
with endogenous proteins

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trying to find out whether they protect 
or harm nerve cells

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but I keep thinking, I want to do this 
with proteins from gut bacteria!

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They did a study with a truly 
amazing outcome:

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The bowels [of mice] were colonized 
with certain bacteria

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and then under conditions of stress,

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when the gut gets leaky,

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they developed memory lapses 
of 10 to 30 days.

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With simultaneous doses of probiotics -- 
[no memory loss].

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And so I wanted to know: 
O.K., how's that?

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And other questions 
which I keep carrying around.

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There is almost no research being done 
on this subject in Germany,

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and I really want to promote this.

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That's why I hope you got something out of this,

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for example that the anus is communicative,

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if you see a beautiful lady smiling 
it's all right to think of her digestive tract,

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(Laughter)

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the gut is very close to the people, 
with a lot of private property,

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you all have your own gut population, 
take good care of it,

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I hope you are more fond of it now,

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some politicians might even 
start fearing its competition,

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I hope the ladies are happier now,

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Thank you all for listening 
and thanks to my sister,

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because she made this possible 
with communication design!

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(Applause)

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Giulia Enders!

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(Applause)

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-- easy, isn't it?

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So let's give today's winner

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some more of our time and attention:

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00:12:01,983 --> 00:12:04,510
a short scientific encore!

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So you have the last word!

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00:12:09,083 --> 00:12:10,772
How nice, how unusual...

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I have something to share 
which I always forget,

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and actually it's quite cool,

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I have told you about those sensor cells,

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that distinguish between 
gaseous and solid,

246
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but there is a state of matter 
which is missing -- liquid,

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it is always a bit of an awkward topic 
for the audience,

248
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but perhaps some of 
you are familiar with this:

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you have diarrhea, you feel you have to fart, 
do you end up with your pants full?

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Your gut can't distinguish liquid from gas, 
so it just takes its chances!

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That was it!

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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I have forgotten it in Freiburg already, 
I always forget it...