The study of the microbiome–the bacteria and other microbes that share our bodies–is hitting the big time, but most of this research is WEIRD. That is, it’s based in Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic countries. This bias is understandable, but it leaves us with a very skewed picture of our microbial partners. And that will become increasingly important as we move towards manipulating our microbes to shape our health. We’d be like conservationists who are trying to restore a forest when they have only ever seen deserts.