Going Outside Can Change Our Hormones and Improve Microbiome Diversity

Going outside has many benefits, from positively affecting our
nervous system to diversifying our microbiome. But you don’t need a
forest preserve to benefit from nature—sometimes even a houseplant
or the smell of lavender can improve our life. Kathy Willis, a
professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, joins host
Rachel Feltman to discuss her new book Good Nature: Why Seeing,
Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health.
Willis suggests ways for even city dwellers to reap the benefits of
nature, such as strolling through urban parks or keeping plants in
their office. Read Willis’s book: Good Nature: Why Seeing,
Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health
(Pegasus Books, 2024) Listen to our previous episodes about plants:
Do Plants ‘Think’? We Might Not Know Enough about Consciousness to
Be Certain How to Grow Your Houseplant Collection Ethically 
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions,
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Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is
produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison
Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel
Feltman with guest  Kathy Willis. Our show is edited by Fonda
Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The
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