A life without microbes: How “germ-free” research is revealing the necessity of bacteria for our brains

The Science Communication Competition is now in its eighth year. As in previous years, it aims to find young talented science writers and give them the opportunity to have their work published in The Biochemist. In 2015, a new branch of the competition was launched to include video entries. Overall this year's competition attracted 74 entries and these were reviewed by our external panel of expert judges. The second prize in the written category was awarded to Jenna Herbert from the University of Oxford, whose article is presented here; the second prize in the video category was Ellie Staniforth from the University of Glasgow. Ellie's video can be viewed at bit.ly/scicomm22018.