Watch a little about Microbes from the Fall 2010 USA Science and Engineering Festival.
The average science student knows that microbiology is the study of bacteria and other microorganisms, especially those that cause disease and other threats to health.
But what the public often does not realize is that the work of the microbiologist is growing ever more important today as such microorganisms are linked at an alarming rate to outbreaks of new infectious disease and food poisoning caused by bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, in addition to the growing difficulty in treating infections due to antibiotic resistance. Microbiologists and their scientific tools are front-line defenders in the expanding battle against germs.
We are also learning that microbes play many important roles in health of humans, animals, and the environment.
“It is clear that microbes rule the world” explains Stanley Maloy, previous president of the American Society for Microbiology.
The study of microbes not only give scientists insight into disease and how the variety of organisms found in a particular environment influences all other life, but can also be particularly useful in answering big-picture questions about evolution.
To give you an idea of the scope of the microbiologists’ challenge, of the thousands of microbes known to science, 99 percent have yet to be grown in a laboratory. “Until recently, unless they could be grown in the laboratory, there was little hope that their physiology or behavior would ever be understood,” Stanley explains.
Learn more about Nifty Fifty Stanley Maloy here.
What are some roles that microbes have in your life that are helpful?