The Australian company BiomeBank is searching for the perfect poo, says Tory Shepherd in The Guardian. Mounting scientific evidence suggests that a human’s microbiome – the makeup of their gut microbes – can affect everything from immunity to mental health. When someone’s microbiome is “disordered”, so the theory goes, it can benefit from good bacteria taken from someone else’s stool.
BiomeBank is collecting real samples in order to recreate this bacteria from “premium” poo in the lab. Its Adelaide headquarters has a special donor room (“a glorified toilet”), a lab with an anaerobic work station, and a massive bank of samples known as the “cave of wonders”. But only around 3% of people have poo that’s up to the job – they’re known in the industry as “unicorns”.