# The Microbiome: What We Think We Know, and What We Don't Know

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-demystifying-cosmetics-podcast-7080353/the-microbiome-what-we-think-we-know-and-what-we-don-t-know
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-demystifying-cosmetics-podcast-7080353/the-microbiome-what-we-think-we-know-and-what-we-don-t-know.md
Podcast: [The Demystifying Cosmetics Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-demystifying-cosmetics-podcast-7080353)
Published: 2026-02-05T15:00:01+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/demystifyingcosmetics/episodes/The-Microbiome-What-We-Think-We-Know--and-What-We-Dont-Know-e3elonv
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/fac083fc/podcast/play/115056831/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-1-5%2F417505204-44100-2-c914f1835f703.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-demystifying-cosmetics-podcast-7080353/episodes/the-microbiome-what-we-think-we-know-and-what-we-don-t-know
Duration seconds: 2580

## Resource

Using the Yanomami as an evolutionary reference point, Larry explains how industrialized life has dramatically reduced microbial diversity and function, why the missing piece may be a protective environmental biofilm, and why simple "microbiome-friendly" claims can outpace the science. Together, they explore what health should mean (resilience, not just "not sick"), why our tools still have major limitations, and what a more honest, evidence-driven path forward could look like—one driven by humility, validation, and consumer demand for real outcomes over "science-iness."Takeaways:• We've Lost 80% of Skin Taxonomy and a Critical Protective Biofilm: Compared to the Yanomami, industrialized humans have lost roughly 80% of taxonomic diversity on skin and 25% of metabolic pathways. What was lost wasn't just bacteria washed away—it was a healthy environmental biofilm that harmonized us with nature, providing oxidation protection and producing secondary metabolites including retinoids that we need but don't make ourselves.• The Yanomami Provide an Evolutionary Reference Point for Health: Hunter-gatherers living traditional lifestyles have zero inflammatory skin diseases—no acne, eczema, rosacea, or psoriasis. They don't sunburn or get skin cancer, their coronary artery scores in their 70s-80s beat ours in our teens, and their modal age of death matches ours despite needing zero pharmaceuticals. This shows us what health looked like when everything was working.• "Correlation Doesn't Imply Causation" Creates a Logical Bottleneck: This phrase only works for highly coupled linear processes, but biology operates as complex adaptive systems. When you find causation everywhere (like with nitric oxide), the logical bottleneck prevents seeing sy…

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