Hi everyone! It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, which means…. suffering from hay fever! For me, symptoms are at their worst right now, and they get better towards the end of July. Thanks to the book Immune by Philipp Dettmer, I now know what’s going on inside my body: IgE antibodies attach themselves to pollen in my body, which causes my immune system to release histamine. This causes itchy eyes, a running nose, and even shortness of breath. Damn you IgE (but also thank you for protecting me from real intruders). I’m still very fascinated by the immune system and all the delicate parts and machinery that make it all work.