Belgian Barrels Reveal History of Human Gut Microbes

sciencehabit writes "700-year-old human feces, preserved in sealed barrels under a town square from the Middle Ages, are shedding new light on the evolution of the bacteria in our guts. Viruses isolated from the ancient poop reveal a growing arms race between our native bacteria and microbial invaders. Such viruses may have been instrumental in helping us digest food, temper inflammation, and fight obesity." Less frightening news that touches on the same domain: European cities (notably Britain) decided to go with sewers instead of barrels, and now, writes reader DW100 "An ISP in the UK has come up with an innovative way to deliver broadband around London: its Victorian sewer network. Geo Networks runs the cables along the roof of the sewers, avoiding any 'waste' issues and providing fast, low-latency, high-fibre services to business and other providers."

Coprolites?

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me for being anal, but-- 700 year old fossilized/petrified feces that you can extract DNa from? Something's wrong here. If these turds were coprolites they would by definition not contain any of the original organic material. I suspect what they found are paleofeces, not coprolites.