From the magazine

‘Trillions’ doesn’t add up

Dot Wordsworth
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 12 April 2025
issue 12 April 2025

‘Oh no, darling’ said my husband, stirring from torpor in his armchair, ‘only about seven ounces of you is bacteria – about the same amount as those little bottles of milk we had at school.’ I had been talking about billions, trillions and quadrillions and had suggested that our bodies’ cells were outnumbered ten to one by bacteria.

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