Tag: microbes

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Cleanliness on the International Space Station

Cleanliness on the International Space Station
International Space Station

Keeping your house clean can be challenging. Consider what it would be like to have several people confined to a small space on the International Space Station (ISS). You might think that keeping that environment perfectly clean and sterile would ensure the astronauts’ health. That is not necessarily the case. Excessive cleanliness on the International Space Station may cause health problems.

According to a new study, the ISS may be more sterile than it should be. Microbes can be beneficial to our health, and research indicates that low microbial diversity on the ISS may be contributing to immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory issues. The new study suggests that introducing more Earth microbes may help prevent astronaut health problems.

For the study, astronauts were asked to swab 803 surfaces on the ISS and return the samples to Earth for analysis. The returned samples contained chemicals from cleaning products and disinfectants, as well as microbes. Researchers examined how the bacteria and chemicals interacted. Particularly important were the dining, food-prep, and toilet areas.

Microbes in our natural Earth environments may help strengthen our health and resistance to infections and skin problems. We have millions of microbes on our skin and in our gut that are not harmful and actually help us digest our food and fight diseases. While on Earth, we have beneficial microbes all around us, but excessive cleanliness on the International Space Station may not be entirely positive. The researchers suggested introducing microbes from Earth to give a more natural balance without posing any health risks to the astronauts.

Sanitized living spaces may not be as healthy as we think. There are far more microbes on planet Earth than there are people, and we can be thankful that God has placed them here for the benefit of life.

— Roland Earnst © 2026

Reference: Discovermagazine.com

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Soil Studies Speak of God’s Preparation for Humans

Healthy Soil
There is an economy of language in the Hebrew descriptions of the Bible. In Genesis 2:8-9 for example, the Bible says: “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground…”

We can learn a lot from those verses. They tell us that the Lord planted something, he did not “zap” something into existence. Later the man was told to tend the garden (verse 15), suggesting that it needed care to continue to provide for the man’s needs and later for the woman’s needs. How long was it after God planted the trees before they began to produce fruit? What did Adam and Eve have to do to take care of the garden? How long was it before Adam and Eve sinned? What else did God need to do in the process of planting the trees?

This last question opens the door to a great deal of understanding that science has gained in recent years through the study of soil chemistry. Plants do not grow in sterile sand. For soil to nourish plants so that they can feed us, much careful science has to be applied. Modern soil scientists refer to “healthy soil” meaning that it is rich in organic material, is crumbly, and has the right chemical profile. To have these things, the soil must contain microbes including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa. A teaspoon of healthy soil can hold more microorganisms than there are people on Earth.

We now know that there is a symbiotic relationship between plants and soil microbes. Plants use the sun’s energy to pull carbon dioxide from the air and create a carbon-rich nutrient packet to allow growth. Oxygen is released in that process. The plants also leak nutrients to the microbes, and the microbes supply plants with other nutrients they have extracted from the minerals in the soil. The fungi produce an underground network that brings water and carbon to the plants. When insects begin to feed on a plant, fungi filaments called hyphae help the plant bring tiny soil nematodes that feed on the insects.

When humans abuse the soil and interrupt this system, we have to artificially add chemicals to do what organisms in the soil were designed to do. The chemicals of modern farming could be reduced or eliminated if farmers worked on building healthy soils. The Garden of Eden was a place of healthy soil. God used incredible wisdom and intelligent design to build a system that would meet human needs. This was done in God’s time and was not a magic show, but a consciously built system that has sustained all living things for a very long time. Proverbs 8:22-31 tells us that wisdom was involved in all of this planning and design, and Romans 1:18-22 lets us know that all of this is a testimony to the existence of God.

There is a wonderful article in the April/May 2017 issue of National Wildlife page 35 (available online http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Gardening/Archives/2017/Soil.aspx) that documents all of this and shows us the complexity of God’s soil science.
–John N. Clayton © 2017