Μικροβιολογία / Microbiology

Usually, show business depicts viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms as one of the worse menaces to mankind. Entertainment movies influence the way audiences understand and perceive these topics. Few films accurately portray the science of microbiology and its social implications. Movies and TV series often feature outbreaks of deadly diseases and the efforts of scientists and medical professionals to contain them. However, entertainment movies can also be used to educate the public about the importance and the impact that microorganisms have on our lives, helping to increase public awareness and appreciation of the world of microbiology. The aim of this review is to show the relationship between movies and microbiology, from the fight against diseases such as AIDS or tuberculosis, to the zombie apocalypse.

When you think of microbial growth, what colors do you imagine?

I’m guessing it is the green of mildew, the brown of rot, the white of sore throat pustules.

I imagine it is not the cerulean of the soil microbe that makes our antibiotics, the cotton candy pink microbe that produces life-saving statins, the orange fungus that helps plants stay healthy, the midnight black of the fungus that makes vitamins for us, or the unctuous white of the microbe that makes sourdough taste so tart and lovely.

The microbes around us naturally produce a rainbow of colors. To display this with some whimsy, I gave a set of 48 Crayola(R) brand crayons a make-over, relabeling them with the microbes that create this biological palette.

Below are the 48 microbes, including the fungi, bacteria, and archaea with a bit of information on how we interact with them, and links to their natural colors. This is just a glimpse into the microbes that make our world colorful.

Welcome to the colors of your biological cosmos.

The aim of the Bad Bugs Book Club is to get people interested in science, specifically microbiology, by reading books (novels) in which infectious disease forms some part of the story.

We also try to associate books, with some other activity or event, to widen interest and to broaden impact. Our bookclub comprises both microbiologists and members of the general public. We felt that this would encourage some discussion on the science – accuracy, impact etc – as well as about the book. 

We have established a fairly fluid membership of our bookclub and we hope to encourage others to join, to set up their own bookclub, suggest books and accompanying activities to us, and give feedback about the books that they have read, using our website as the focus for communication. So please get in touch!

 For further infomation, or if you have any queries, please contact Joanna Verran: J.Verran@mmu.ac.uk 

What Is Agar Art?

Microbes are essential for sustaining life in our planet. Also, we use microbes for multiple processes like food fermentation, production of antibiotics and other drugs, biofuel production, biomining and so forth. However, this essential role is scarcely represented in commercial movies. Although films are an artistic recreation of reality, we must not forget that they fix in the public's imagination the cliché that ‘microbes are bad’. In this article, some commercial movies that depict the beneficial biotechnological use of microorganisms are discussed as tools to be used in education and to engage general audiences, countering germophobia, and encourage them in the path of ‘positive microbiology’.