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Our Challenge: Some people think
it would be great if scientists could wipe
out all the microbial bugs! Should we do it,
and why or why not?
As
a microbe sleuth, I get a lot of requests
to track down the nasty bugs that are making
people sick. It's true that some microbes
cause health problems such as strep throat,
chickenpox and the common cold. Unfortunately,
because a small number of microbes cause disease,
all microbes have got a bad rap.
It
seems only a few bad microbes get almost all
the press. You just don't hear as much about
all the many GOOD things microbes do every
day.
So
I've created my own "most wanted" gallery,
except instead of thugs, my gallery contains
pictures of some microbe heroes who make our
lives better.
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Lactobacillus
acidophilus (lack-toe-bah-sill-us
acid-off-ill-us): one of the
bacteria gang wanted for turning
milk into yogurt.
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Saccharomyces
cerevisiae (sack-arrow-my-seas
sair-uh-vis-ee-ay):
a.k.a. baker's yeast. Wanted for
making bread rise.
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Streptomyces
(strep-toe-my-seas): soil
bacteria wanted for making streptomycin,
an antibiotic used to treat infections.
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Pseudomonas
putida (sue-doe-moan-us
poo-tea-dah): one of many microbes
wanted for cleaning wastes from
sewage water at water treatment
plants.
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Escherichia
coli (Esh-er-ish-e-ah
coal-eye): one of many kinds
of microbes that live in your gut.
Wanted for helping you digest your
food every day.
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Arbuscular
mycorrhizas (ar-bus-que-ler
my-kuh-rye-zuh): one of a soil-living
fungus family. Wanted for helping
crops take up nutrients from the
soil.
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Bacillus
thuringiensis (bah-sill-us
ther-in-gee-in-sis): a.k.a
"Bt", a common soil bacterium.
Wanted as a natural pest-killer
in gardens and on crops.
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There are many other important jobs
microbes do. They are used to make medicine.
They break down the oil from oil spills. They
make about half of the oxygen we breathe.
They are the foundation of the food chain
that feeds all life on earth.
In short, microbes are much more our friends
than our enemies.
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