Micro-organisms affect every aspect of life on Earth. Some microbes cause disease but the majority are completely harmless.
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If you pick up a handful of garden soil you will be holding hundreds if not thousands of different kinds of microbes.
One single teaspoon of soil contains 1 billion bacteria & 120,000 fungi & 25,000 algae
Micro-organisms can be used to demonstrate principles of biology and to model industrial processes, as well as offering opportunities for teaching across the curriculum.
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Microbes generate at least half the oxygen we breathe.
Microbes often suffer from negative press but guess what, only 5% actually cause disease and many more are very helpful.
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The toilet handle in most bathrooms at work has 400 times more germs than the toilet seat.
Keeping up with the latest news and research about microbes is easy with Microbiology Online – your one-stop shop for microbial science education.
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There are 10 times more bacteria in the average human’s digestive system than there are cells in the entire body. This is approximately 1kg of bacteria.
The Microbiology Society is a professional body for scientists who work in all areas of microbiology. It has over 4,000 members worldwide who are based in universities, industry, hospitals and research institutes.
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Most microbes do not cause disease - less than 5% do.
Malaria is caused by the single-celled parasite Plasmodium. It is transmitted from one person to another by certain species of blood sucking mosquito. The parasite spends part of its complex life cycle inside red blood cells.
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Microbes have been around longer than anything else on Earth, longer even than dinosaurs.
If you imagine Earth began as a single day: Microbes appeared at 5am, Dinosaurs appeared at 10pm... and humans appeared seconds before midnight
Dr Winkle Weinberg, an infectious diseases expert, reckons that when we have a cold and cough the virus particles can travel at 320 kilometres an hour and up to 900 metres. That is faster than a passenger jet at takeoff!
There are more microbes on one person’s hand than there are people on the planet.
Some dentists recommend that a toothbrush should be kept at least 2 metres away from a toilet to avoid air-borne particles resulting from the flush – what a large bathroom!
Algae can be observed using unstained wet mounts. This gives an overview of algae.
Observing bacteria in a Petri dish.
Observing fungi in a Petri dish.
Protozoa can be observed using unstained wet mounts. The following website gives an overview of some of the commonly found freshwater protozoa.
Free resources on hot topics such as TB, AIDS and microbes and climate change.