Hidden Guests: The New Science of Microchimerism, Lise Barnéoud

Publisher's summary: We are all told the same story as children: that we grew from a single cell into a human, that all of our cells came from the first fertilized egg, and that we have one distinct genetic code. But scientists are beginning to challenge that story.
The discovery of microchimerism shows that not all our cells are our own—some of them migrated from other bodies. How did they get there? Scientists are still studying their journey, but today we know cells are exchanged in pregnancy, through transplants and blood transfusions, and possibly even through sex. But what does this mean for our daily lives—is it really such a big deal if someone else’s cell turns up in our bodies? The answer is, as author Lise Barnéoud shows in Hidden Guests, that the implications could be earth-shattering.
In Hidden Guests, Barnéoud interviews doctors, researchers, and medical experts at the forefront of microchimerism research. She interweaves their fascinating discoveries with the shocking human stories of microchimerism.