--- title: Five Best: Bacteria in The Gut May Be the Secret to Exercise description: Bacteria in your gut might hold the secret to athletic performance, how a late rent check can harm the health of parents and kids and more. canonical: https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-25T17:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:11.163Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Bacteria in The Gut May Be the Secret to Exercise og:description: And four more of today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bacteria in The Gut May Be the Secret to Exercise twitter:description: And four more of today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Bacteria in Your Gut Might Hold the Secret to Athletic Performance > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf9c00b4-08b4-4b56-97f9-35395744cf54&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 25, 2018 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 25, 2018 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Bacteria in your gut might hold the secret to athletic performance.**](https://www.outsideonline.com/2274441/no-gut-no-glory) By David Ferry in _Outside_ **2\.** [**Here’s how a late rent check can harm the health of parents and kids.**](https://psmag.com/social-justice/late-rent-payments-family-health) By Candace Butera in _Pacific Standard_ **3\.** [**This flexible, high-capacity, rechargable battery could be the key to better use of renewable energy.**](http://news.mit.edu/2018/metal-mesh-membrane-rechargeable-batteries-renewable-energy-0122) By David L. Chandler in _MIT News_ **4\.** [**Could a global groundswell against corruption make leaders honest again?**](https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2018/0123/A-global-wish-for-honest-leaders) By the editors of the _Christian Science Monitor_ **5\.** [**Emergency rooms can help solve the opioid crisis.**](https://brightthemag.com/health-opioid-epidemic-overdose-hospital-emergency-room-58fe5bbe2629) By Virginia Pelley in _Bright_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/"},"headline":"Bacteria in Your Gut Might Hold the Secret to Athletic Performance","datePublished":"2018-01-25T17:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:11.163Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/","keywords":["Five Best Ideas","Innovation","Exercise","corruption","finance","battery","opioid crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/five-best-ideas/","name":"Five Best Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5118411/bacteria-in-your-gut-might-hold-the-secret-to-athletic-performance/","name":"Bacteria in Your Gut Might Hold the Secret to Athletic Performance"}}]}] ```