Our micro­bio­me, the col­lec­tion of microbes that live in and on our bod­ies, is under threat. Antibi­otics, processed foods, and even stress can dis­rupt the del­i­cate bal­ance of our gut bac­te­ria, lead­ing to a range of health prob­lems. Prob­lems with our gut micro­bio­me could be fac­tors in the rise of dia­betes, obe­si­ty, food aller­gies and even devel­op­men­tal dis­or­ders like autism.

We talk with film­mak­ers Sarah Schenck and Steven Lawrence about their film The Invis­i­ble Extinc­tion. It’s about the threats to our life-sup­port­ing micro­bio­me and the sci­en­tists rac­ing to save our van­ish­ing microbes before it’s too late.