Microbes Coexist Peacefully with Other Marine Life: They are in there somewhere, even if you can't see them!
Courtesy Mila Zinkove
The Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) is a fantastic, state of the art research program. With grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and help from researchers from around the world they strive to impress upon people the significance of microbial organisms and through research gain a more comprehensive knowledge of microorganisms living in the ocean. Their primary goal is to create a better understanding of how these little tiny microbes affect the entire biome of the ocean.
They hope to find answers to life's persistent questions on climate change, and they think these little guys might hold the key. Some of these microorganisms from the ocean have the ability to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in organic matter. Not only is this one of the many talents of one kind of microbe, its actually the way they in a sense, breathe. If this one microbe can do all that, think of what other science secrets that are still hidden in the ocean waiting to be discovered and change the world! Hurray!
Earlier this spring C-MORE broke ground on a new facility in Hawai'i where they hope to develop new strategies that will unveil the link between the microbial genotype and ocean phenotype. I personally am very excited to see what they discover next! Good luck!
Tags : Wash your hands! (Activity)
in Life Science, History and Nature of Science, Scientific Inquiry, and Human Organism
Not to freak y'all out, but did you know that germs are on everything you touch? Using a special powder called Glo Germ (get it here) you can actually see how germs spread from one thing to another. It will make you want to wash your hands more often. (And the CDC recommends washing your hands frequently. In fact, why don't you go wash up right now?)
Scrub 'em: Use soap and water, and wash for 20 seconds. That's about the time it takes to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice.
Courtesy mitikusa
TRY THIS:
Goal: to observe how germs are spread
Age level:: 3 and above
Activity time: 2 - 5 minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Materials needed:
- Glo Germ powder
- Toys or common household/school/office objects to "spike" with germs
- UV lamp or detector box
Preparation:
- Sprinkle Glo Germ powder on your objects.
- Arrange them somewhere where others can handle them.
- Plug in UV lamp, but don't turn it on.
Directions:
Encourage others to pick up and play with the objects. Ask them what they know about germs.
- Do you know where microbes are found?
- Do you know what a microbe/germ is?
- Do you know what illnesses are caused by germs?
- Do you know the best way to avoid getting sick because of germs?
After the discussion, tell them that, as part of an experiment, you've put "pretend" germs on one or some of the objects they may have touched today. Switch on the UV lamp: what glows?
Reinforce the fat that the Glo Germ powder is just to simulate germs. It won't make you sick. You can get rid of the germs by washing your hands. In fact, encourage your audience to wash their hands and then hold them under the UV light again.
(On the other hand, remember that not all germs are bad. Exposure to some germs is thought to protect people against asthma and allergies or colitis, and overuse of antibacterial products leads to antibiotic resistance and superbugs as well as potential damage to the environment.)
Researchers at Penn State have found a new species of bacteria in Greenland. Big whip – as long as it stays away from me, who cares? Well, this organism is ultra-small (I know what you’re thinking – aren’t bacteria pretty, um, small to begin with? Yeah, but these are super-duper small). It has also survived for 120 thousand years trapped without oxygen under two miles of ice. It may help scientists look for life on cold planets and moons elsewhere in our Solar System. (Which I think is a proper noun and therefore should be capitalized, though I may be mistaken.)
Some microbes are resistant to antibiotics. Researchers in England have developed a way to change the molecular structure of antibiotics to make them more effective against these “superbugs.”
It might have been recalled. Minneapolis-based Cargill has recalled about 1 million pounds of ground beef due to possible E. coli contamination. (This after recalling 845,000 frozen ground beef patties on October 7th.)
There are a few Buzz posts about the E. coli problem:
"The downside of fresh produce"
"Would you buy/eat food dipped in edible plastic?"
"Stopping E. coli O157:H7 infections"
"It's out there..."
I've been chatting with Chris Condayan from the American Society for Microbiology and discovering a bunch of great website about this science of "wee beasties." I had to share some of the fun:
Cartoon critters
Bacillus cereus: Cartoon by Emma Lurie
Adopt a Microbe is a goofy blog from Emma Lurie, a microbiology student in perth. A graphic artist, Lurie, draws great cartoons of common microbes and posts them along with fun and simple descriptions. From Bacillus cereus' description:
I love rice!
Rice is one of my favourite places to live, especially if it's been reheated over and over.
You can get food poisoning from me that will give you diarrhoea and vomiting.
I use a special toxin to make you sick.
An unconventional documentary
Ever wonder about the history of microbiology but didn't want to watch a dry film with boring scientists? LEGOs to the rescue. These whimsical animated LEGO mini-figs tell the wild history of microbiology greats like Louis Pasteur.
So now that you're interested, look further into the microscope with these more in-depth resources:
Microbe World - Discover Unseen Life on Earth
Small Things Considered - The Microbe Blog.
Ocean Waves: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
When you are swimming in the ocean, you might want to be careful not to drink the water. First of all, that salty seawater doesn’t taste too good. But also, scientists just discovered that there are way more bacteria swimming in the ocean than they previously thought.
According to a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one liter of seawater can be home to over 20,000 different species of bacteria. This is about 20 to 100 times greater than previous estimates. Scientists now estimate that there could be between five and ten million types of bacteria living in the ocean.
The discovery was made possible by a new technique known as “454 tag sequencing” that allows for the quick identification of organisms. This technique allows them to identify thousands of kinds of unusual bacteria, which may have gone unnoticed in other research.
Dr Mitchell Sogin, from the Marine Biological Laboratory's Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative and Molecular Biology and Evolution, told BBC News that this biodiversity discovery “really points to our lack of knowledge and how much more there is to learn." There really is much to learn about the world around us.
So, next time you're swimming at the beach and you accidently take a big gulp of seawater, just think of the wide diversity of microorganisms you just swallowed.
I've just discovered MicrobeWorld, offering a cool series of audio and video podcasts on topics in microbiology. Today's offering? "How long does smallpox immunity last?"
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