Microscopic miracles
WEBWATCH
N S Soundar Rajan writes about a website devoted to our understanding of microbes
Without microbes, we couldn’t eat or breathe. Without us, they’d probably be just fine!
Microbiology is the study of microbes and their interactions with humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Microbes are those organisms usually too small to be seen by the naked eye, such as bacteria, viruses and archaea, and eukaryotes like yeast, protozoa and algae.
Microbes influence all living things and contribute to all manner of chemical and physical processes. Because these activities are so diverse, the science of microbiology is multidisciplinary, calling on the skills and knowledge of individuals specialising in many different fields of life science, environmental science, and engineering. Microbiology arose, and continues to profit from, several previously independent scientific and medical disciplines, including bacteriology, virology, public health science, clinical microbiology, immunology, parasitology, vaccinology, and a host of other areas of inquiry.
Microbiologists work in basic and applied research, clinical settings, manufacturing of food and other goods, public health, environmental protection, and other domains.
If you need a basic understanding of the science of Microbiology, including advice for starting a career, microbial record holders, tools of the trade, and much more, the website MicrobeWorld at www.microbeworld.org, is a good start. Launched by the American Society for Microbiology, the website offers an arresting presentation designed to make the general public and others familiar with a topic that normally doesn’t figure in the forefront of the popular media.
The menu of MicrobeWorld includes
*What is a Microbe?
*Did You Know?
*Microbiologists
*History of Microbiology
*Handwashing
*MicrobeWorld Experiments
The Chapter on What is a Microbe has subsections, including Where They Live, Virus or Bacterium? Microbial Mergers, and Types of Microbes. We get to know how tiny microbes, the oldest form of life on earth, are, and more here.
The Did You Know chapter is divided into sub chapters like How Do They Do That? Microbial Record Holders, and Evolution in Action. These answer questions like ‘Acid wash jeans and enzymes...what’s the connection?’ ‘The millions of microbes we carry on our hands, are they safe or harmful?’ ‘Does microbiology means sitting in labs all day?’ and more.
We may not encounter any microbiologists in our everyday activities or even know of anyone who works as a microbiologist. The section on Microbiologists puts them in proper perspective, like What Microbiologists Do, Tools of the Trade, and Careers. The section throws light on the research efforts of thousands of these scientists on our planet’s microscopic inhabitants which can affect us in many ways, everyday. And, if a career involving microbes interests you, this subsection can tell you all about the educational requirements and possibly find a mentor, too.
The History of Microbiology chapter presents Microbiology’s 50 Most Significant Events between 1875–1995. These can be browsed in specific time periods, 1870s–1880s, 1890s-1900s, 1910s-1920s, 1930s-1940s, 1950s-1960s, and 1970s-till now. The chart, 30 MB 300 DPI jpg, containing all these great events can be downloaded at http://microbeworld.s3.amazonaws.com/website/poster/Timeline.jpg.
The Why is Handwashing Important section provides a good idea why handwashing is such a big deal. Why it’s so very important and when we should wash. A lot more here on what happens when people don’t wash well or often enough. A video on handwashing can be viewed at http://www.microbeworld.org/images/didyouknow/washlan.mov.
The MicrobeWorld Experiments section includes 17 hands-on activities that correlate with and build on the themes and ideas presented in the video cast Intimate Strangers:
Unseen Life on Earth.
There are a couple of podcasts hosted on the website like This Week in Virology (TWiV) which takes a lively look at diverse microbe topics, polio eradication, controlling the dengue virus (in Florida) and tracking the enigmatic Colony Collapse Disorder, the vanishing of worker bees from a hive. A link to the popular Lady Gaga parody ‘Bad Project’ on YouTube, created by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine, is also provided.
Established in 2003, MicrobeWorld is an interactive multimedia educational outreach initiative that promotes awareness and understanding of key microbiological issues to adult and youth audiences, and showcases the significance of microbes in our lives and also increases our awareness, understanding and appreciation. An overview of the website MicrobeWorld, its features and how the site can be used can also be viewed at www.microbeworld.org.
