The Surprisingly Charming Science of Your Gut | Giulia Enders

In this Ted talk the speaker is talking about her introduction to medicine and why she studies the specific field that she does. She opens by saying that people are always very interested to her that she studies in the field of medicine, but not so much the specific field she studies in. This is where she talks about the fact that she studies the colon, and specifically the gut. She draws a metaphor that people often want to see the magic, but know one wants to see the actual magician behind that magic. She then breaks the study of the Gut down into 3 parts. First part is the “look”. This is where she observes the gut and the many functions that it has. More specifically she talks about the process of when, how, and why we poop. Our inside sends messages to the brain that tell us whether it is in the form of gas or a solid, aka a fart or a poop. Our brain then mediates this information and sends signals back based on a few factors, such as where we are at, and what we are doing. She also talks about how nerves affect our bowel movements and why people do things such as vomit or diarrhea in nervous situations.