Scientists are deep-freezing human poop in a "doomsday" vault in Switzerland that already contains more than 1,000 fecal samples, and the researchers now say they want to amass 10,000 samples by 2029.
That's because poop contains billions of microbes that scientists want to preserve in case future generations need the bugs to solve medical and other health crises, according to a commentary published Friday (June 27) in the journal Nature Communications. The Swiss storage facility also houses almost 200 types of fermented food, which contain plenty of "gut-friendly" microbes that could help keep populations healthy, and the team plans to add environmental microbes to the collection.
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