The Invisible Emperors talked about some of the misconceptions and new findings about bacteria. It first talked about how we always think that bacteria is bad for us, and how we relate it to sickness. Following this, it mentions how scientists have new tools that allow them to see the DNA of micro-organisms, and how this could someday be a cure for cancer. Among other things, like replicating DNA using bacteria, they mention how it is becoming a very vast and almost limitless field.
Following some statistical facts, they talk about how they can now take the DNA and figure out what microbial produced it. This lead into some of the benefits of bacteria, such as decomposing garbage and producing oxygen. Later it talked, and had a graphic, about individual bacterias that offer benefits to humans. It goes into how microbes are constantly attacked by humans by using products such as soap, anti-bacterial rinses, cat litter, etc. Then it concludes that section of the article saying that by killing off so many bacteria, both good and bad, it could upset the balance of nature, not only resulting in direct harm to us, but allowing other bacteria to become dangerous.
The second part of the article talks about how other scientists are excited to find out about extremophiles. It starts out
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I knew that raw food had some bacteria on it, but five million bacteria per gram seems like a lot. In that same paragraph, It talked about the global population of prokaryotes being somewhere around 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Yet, if they were all dried, it would only be enough to cover France three feet deep. I tried to look for a more current estimate on the global population of prokaryotes, but everything referred to the same study mentioned in the article. The study was by William Whitman, David Coleman, and William
In When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, each of the characters – the mother, the daughter, the son, and the father - change because of their time spent in the Japanese-American internment camps. These characters change in not only physical ways, but they also undergo psychic and emotional changes as a result of staying in the camps. These changes weaken their resolve for living and cause the quality of their lives to decline; some of these changes will affect their lives forever. Their reclassification into the internment camps stays with the family long after they are released from the camps.
Jennifer Ackerman's main focus in her article The Ultimate Social Network, is that of the functions concerning bacteria within humans. Although scientists have had presumptions about humans being proficient in governing their body’s innermost structure, they soon come to recognize the sophistication of our inner space which holds an extensive plethora of bacteria and other microorganisms that lie within each and every one of us. Moreover, scientists' new and emerging view of how the human body operates, and the cause of increasing present-day diseases (i.e. obesity and different autoimmune disorders) are uncovered by analyzing effects of certain microbe species in our bodies. By italicizing on points such as the above, in conjunction with bacteria's genetic variations, and modern computing technology, the author proves that scientists are quickly progressing with the characterization the most prevalent species of microbes, which, in her opinion, is definitely paying off.
In the summer of 1995, the periodical Wilson Quarterly published "Enemies of Promise," an essay by J. Michael Bishop, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of microbiology from the University of California, San Francisco. The essay addressed the renewed criticism the scientific community has received in recent years by an ignorant and unduly critical public. The overall effect this single work has had on the world may be nominal, but the points Professor Bishop raises are significant, and provide ammunition against the ignorants who maintain this "intellectual war," centuries after it was sparked.
our everyday lives bacteria is constantly surrounding us, some of the bacterium that we encounter are beneficial to us but then there are the ones that are severely detrimental to our health. The way that they effect a persons body can differ from person to person. Many of the “microscopic foes” are very resilient and have a very fast reproduction rate. Not only do they reproduce quickly they sometimes seem to outsmart our immune system and not allow our bodies to fight the infection making it almost impossible to stop them. One thing that a lot if people rely on is the assistance of prescription drugs to get them better but even the drugs are not being effective and we can’t stop the pathogens from invading our personal places such as work, home, school, or anywhere. Even though modern medicine is advancing the pathogens could still get the get the best of us. The scary thing is we never know when the next pandemic or epidemic is going to arise. All it needs is some ordinary microbe to swap genes with a deadly germ to produce a “super pathogen” and it could happen to anyone, anywhere, as it did to Jeannie Brown who is from “our neck of the woods”.
...standing the nature of relationship between the residing microbes inside human cells and about their function is very important to put an end to this war and to live in peace with the natural organisms that are benefitting human body and their survival has become our primary importance.
Audesirk, Teresa, Gerald Audesirk, and Bruce E. Byers. Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2011. 268-69. Print.
The author states “the effort to suppress scientific information reflects a dangerously outdated attitude.” Donahue supports this claim by explaining several cases in science where sharing information on microbiological studies has helped science move forward. The author mentions an article that was published describing how susceptible the United States milk supply is to the botulinum toxin. This article was suspended by the National Academy of Science because they believed it to be a “road map for terrorists” (p. 1). The author believes, however, that instead of censoring such an article, this information should be shared, this way other scientists will be able to discover ways to defend against terrorist attacks.
In several cases, Nobel Peace Prizes were given to the scientists who contributed to public health through antibiotics. The importance and significance of antibiotics in our lives are emphasized through those beginning statements made by the author. Because of the list of achievements that antibiotics have brought to people throughout history, I, as a reader, was left impressed by the topic. Starting the article in such a positive manner gives the reader a good attitude and an open mind when reading the rest of the article which is more controversial. The tone that Carroll used throughout the article left me as a reader impressed when I finished reading. Learning that before antibiotics, the top cause of death in the United States was germs made me realize the importance of antibiotics to our country when they are used properly. Although I understand that antibiotic resistance is real, I have never had a first-hand experience with an antibiotic not being able to fight a bacterial infection. In my mind, Carroll purposefully gave several examples of the importance of antibiotics to our country to emphasize that the rest of the article was not against
... perspective must go beyond curing bacterial disease right now (3). This understanding must extend to the need to preserve microbial communities that are susceptible to antibiotics, so they will always be able to out-compete resistant strains.
For this multimedia project, I decided to watch “The Last Emperor.” In “The Last Emperor,” Puyi the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty, is faced with the close of traditional monarchy and the switch to a republic. I want to examine why traditional monarchy fell and the republic of China took over. I would like to discuss the various transitions China’s government. China went through an imperialistic monarchy, republic, warlord governments, and communism. Though China went through many different changes I would like to discuss why China shifted and the instant it happened. I would like to talk about the corruption and the government’s relationship with its people. My thesis statement is China’s governmental change from a traditional monarchy to a republic was because of a poor governmental/societal relationship and corruption within the Qing dynasty.
Bacterial cells, like plant cells, are surrounded by a cell wall. However, bacterial cell walls are made up of polysaccharide chains linked to amino acids, while plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, which contains no amino acids. Many bacteria secrete a slimy capsule around the outside of the cell wall. The capsule provides additional protection for the cell. Many of the bacteria that cause diseases in animals are surrounded by a capsule. The capsule prevents the white blood cells and antibodies from destroying the invading bacterium. Inside the capsule and the cell wall is the cell membrane. In aerobic bacteria, the reactions of cellular respiration take place on fingerlike infoldings of the cell membrane. Ribosomes are scattered throughout the cytoplasm, and the DNA is generally found in the center of the cell. Many bacilli and spirilla have flagella, which are used for locomotion in water. A few types of bacteria that lack flagella move by gliding on a surface. However, the mechanism of this gliding motion is unknown. Most bacteria are aerobic, they require free oxygen to carry on cellular respiration. Some bacteria, called facultatibe anaerobes can live in either the presence or absence of free oxygen. They obtain energy either by aerobic respiration when oxygen is present or by fermentation when oxygen is absent. Still other bacteria cannot live in the presence of oxygen. These are called obligate anaerobes. Such bacteria obtain energy only fermentation. Through fermentation, different groups of bacteria produce a wide variety of organic compounds. Besides ethyl alcohol and lactic acid, bacterial fermentation can produce acetic acid, acetone, butyl alcohol, glycol, butyric acid, propionic acid, and methane, the main component of natural gas. Most bacteria are heterotrophic bacteria are either saprophytes or parasites. Saprophytes feed on the remains of dead plants and animals, and ordinarily do not cause disease. They release digestive enzymes onto the organic matter. The enzymes breakdown the large food molecules into smaller molecules, which are absorbed by the bacterial cells. Parasites live on or in living organisms, and may cause disease. A few types of bacteria are Autotrophic, they can synthesize the organic nutrients they require from inorganic substances. Autotrophic bacteria are either photosynthetic or Chemosynthetic. The photosynthetic bacteria contain chlorophyll that are different from the plant chlorophyll. In bacterial photosynthesis, hydrogen is obtained by the splitting of compounds other than water.
Microbes are major key components in both are homes and industrial food preparation. There are number of lactic acid which is a form of bacteria which is a large group of beneficial bacteria used in certain foods while they are getting prepared such as yogurt, cheese, sour cream, butter milk and other type of fermented milk products. Things such as vinegars are produced by bacterial acetic acid fermentation. Yeast is also major use in the making of beer and wine and also for the leaving of breads. This also involves fermentations to convert corn and other vegetable carbohydrates to also make beer, wine or gasohol but also bacteria is the agents of are other foods. Other fermented foods will include things such as soy sauce, olives and cocoa. (Microbes and human life, 2013) Single cell proteins are known as dried cells of microbes which are used in protein supplement shacks. They are also called “novel food” and “minifood”. The production of this requires micro-organisms which then serve as the protein source and then the substrate which is biomass which they grow on them. There are a number of both these sources that we are able to use for the production of single cell protein (SCP). The micro-organisms used belong to the following groups of Algae, Fungi and bacteria. (Slide Share, 2012)
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was a scientist and was best known for his contributions to microbiology; he received the title of "the Father of Microbiology” and dedicated many years of his life to improve the microscope in order to attain incredible heights of precision of the microscopic lenses. He produced magnifications from up to 275X, with a resolving power of up to 1.4 µm. Moreover, he presented his findings from the material of animals and vegetables in extraordinary detail as well as being the first to observe a glimpse of bacteria that he found in water; the first illustration of the bacteria is demonstrated in a representation by Leeuwenhoek in the 1683 “Philosophical Transactions” publication. In this publication, Leeuwenhoek wrote to the Royal Society about his observations of the inside of an old man’s mouth. He found "an unbelievably great company of living animalcules [Latin for ‘little animals’], a-swimming more nimbly than any I had ever seen up to this time. The biggest sort... bent their body into curves in going forwards. . . Moreover, the other animalcules were in such enormous numbers, that all the water... seemed to be alive." These were among the first observations on living bacteria ever recorded.
Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment in which they grow. The effects
...gests that the world is on the brink of a post-antibiotic era as the numbers of resistant bacteria (superbugs) proliferate, and there is an increase in the number of people dying from previously treatable infections. Todar, (n.d) states, “Society could be faced with previously treatable diseases that have become again untreatable, as in the days before antibiotics were developed.”