Humankind has benefited enormously from the study of microbes since their discovery in the 17th century. However, such benefits have come from the study of just a miniscule fraction of the millions of species of microbes in the environment. In addition, scientists are realizing the importance of studying the collective properties of communities of microbes, which perform complex tasks essential to the health of human beings and our planet. The emerging field of metagenomics opens the door to exploring the vast array of microbes unstudied to date and to investigating entire microbial communities. Through a deeper understanding of the microbes that sustain life on Earth, the metagenomics approach offers the promise of an incredible array of new benefits.
These booklets have been written by the National Research Council on a variety of topics with particular interest for the general public, based on information from NRC reports. Some booklets draw exclusively from one report, while others are tied to many reports.