The importance of leaning what makes us sick makes up a great part of the study of microbiology. Microorganisms can make us sick, cure us, clean up our dirty waste, and work tirelessly for us and often without our knowing…
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The theory that refers to spontaneous generation suggests that life may have evolved from non-living forms of matter (also called chemical evolution). Charles Darwin hypothesized that life may have evolved in the bottom of a pond. Although some of the…
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What is a ‘protozoa’? Protozoa are unicellular organisms which are present as free living or else as parasitic organisms in another living system. There are several types of protozoa that have been identified and among them, sporazoa, flagellated protozoa, ciliated…
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Will Probiotics Replace the Increasingly Ineffective Antibiotics? On an almost daily basis both world and national news gives us an update on the increase in hospital infections that are not responding to even the best antibiotics available in our medical…
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The familiar mushrooms found on pizzas and in the lawn are part of a group of fungi called club fungi, or basidiomycetes. The phylum Basidiomycota consists of 16,000 different species of fungi, including the shelf or bracket fungi found on…
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A recent article in the UK’s Daily Telegraph bemoaned the possible extinction of up to one-third of the lifeforms on Earth. [Third of plants and animals ‘at risk of extinction’] But articles like these overlook the emerging bio-technologies of the…
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Protozoa, single celled animals have evolved to exploit every ecological niche. Some are free living while others are parasitic and capable of causing severe, sometimes life-threatening, infection. A number of parasitic protozoa are intracellular parasites living within other cells. One…
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There are many difficulties that a microscope user might encounter before even trying to see the specimen. Dirty lenses and problems controlling the light source are common. Here is how to avoid these frustrating scope issues. * Clean All Lenses…
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We are asked to determine whether the race of humans, the modern species of human beings, Homo sapiens, is now in the process of evolving, that is to say moving toward a higher level of development, or devolving, moving inexorably…
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Fimbriae are external structures of Gram- cells which enable bacteria to adhere to surfaces and, as virulence factors, mediate infection of host cells. Most Gram-negative bacteria have these short, fine appendages surrounding the cell. In contrast, Gram-positive bacteria lack fimbriae….
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