yeast

"The natural oil of the scalp sinks into the shampoo and the yeast will feed on the build up," Proudman says.

Other familiar model organisms include mice, fruit flies and baker's yeast.

It needs to survive, because yeast is an organism just like you and I, and we need the same things.

That same energy — careful attention to detail, generosity, ritualistic devotion — maps almost perfectly onto sourdough culture: people exchanging starters, mentoring newbies on Reddit, obsessing over hydration ratios, even running “starter hotels” for friends’ yeast cultures.

It's in this lab that, using gene editing, Prof Wright's team successfully made a yeast that can produce the six sterols that bees need.