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Who lives in the microworld?
The world around us is not as evident as it seems. And not evident in quite a literal sense - not everything is visible with just eyes. There are a considerable number of microorganisms around us.
What they are and where exactly they live, we will figure out from this lesson.
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How to look under a microscope?
Today we will know how to use a microscope: how to prepare, what to put, where to rotate, where to look, and how to photograph the results. In general, what can be viewed with a microscope and what cannot?
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Working principles and functionalities of microscopes
Microscopes are very different, and their functionalities are also different. For example, with a binocular microscope, you can magnify a pattern on the skin of your fingers. With a light transmission microscope, poking your fingers is useless. But it is quite possible to consider, for example, plant cells. Both the binocular and the transmission light microscope will show us things enlarged. The X-ray diffractometer increases so much that it will help to recognize the structure of even a single molecule. But what it shows us will not be at all like macro photography at all.
In this lesson, we will deal with the functionalities of various magnifying devices.
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Is spontaneous generation possible?
Since ancient times, humanity has solved the origin of life in a rather exciting way. There was no doubt that a living thing, or at least its lower representatives, was capable of emerging on its own.
Oh, how difficult it was for people to abandon old ideas! Even despite clever experiments that showed that "Omne vivum ex ovo" ("all living things are from an egg").
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Who was the first to see microbes?
Who was the first to see microbes? The answer to this question is not so simple - it was not Antoni van
Leeuwenhoek, as many would have thought.
Leeuwenhoek was the first who not only saw the microworld but also realized what he saw. What happened before, and what unexpectedly happened later, we will know from this lesson.
- Microbial art
Microorganisms can be very beautiful. They can grow like frosty patterns on a window, glow in the night, and even in the most common mold, it is possible to see the perfection of the world. Do you want to see it also?
- Louis Pasteur is a microbiological hero
In our time, so many inventions have been made that it's already good if you create at least one more thing. But Louis Pasteur lived in the golden age of discovery and innovation and was a very talented person. Prepare pens and notebooks and begin to list what he discovered!
- Staining and slicing
Objects that are transparent or have the same color as the background are much easier to study under a microscope after staining. This lesson will master staining bacteria with methylene blue and learn how to use an immersion lens. What else can you paint different objects, and what to do if you want to see a beautiful multi-colored picture under a microscope, but are too lazy to paint anything?
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A cell under a microscope
In this lesson, we will learn what the monastery and the cell have in common, why parts of the body cannot be torn off from us, but from Volvox, it is possible, and how the cell is arranged inside.
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Protozoa
In this lesson, we will get acquainted with groups of protozoa, which can be easily distinguished from each other by external signs: amoebas, foraminiferas, sun-animalcules, radiolarians, ciliates, and flagellates.
- Microscopic fungi
Sometimes it happens that you bought grapes, for example, maybe cucumbers. Or bread. Anything, any food that has a little moisture in it. And this food after a while goes bad. You can't eat. It is covered with a cute fluff, which in itself may and looks pretty (at least if you look through the eyes of a microbiologist), but irrevocably spoils the food.
We usually call this fluff "mold." In science, it is called a "microscopic fungi."
Today I will tell you why it grew up on food, and how it differs from large mushrooms (the difference is not as big as one might think). Also, I will teach you how to identify those molds that are more common at home.
- The world in a drop of water
Forgive me, it was impossible to resist the somewhat stereotyped name "The World in a Drop of Water". It often comes across here and there, but really, is there a whole world in a drop of water? I'm afraid the answer will be somewhat disappointing. If you want to see a city of microscopic creatures living a fascinating life, then probably not. In a drop of seawater, there is a mass of viruses and quite a lot of bacteria - but they will not picturesquely wave their paws and roll their eyes - they have neither one nor the other. And if you take multicellular organisms, then a lot of them will not fit into a drop. You can catch Daphnia in a drop of water, but you can't say that there is a whole world in there. There will be little room for it.
So let's take not one drop, but ten. Well, or a hundred. Maybe a bucket. Let's take a look and see what floats there.
- Who lives on the human body?
The answer is: that there are very, very many bacteria. But it's not that bad. Most of the bacteria that live with us continuously are not going to harm us at all. We are a walking warm canteen, and they are delighted that we are alive and well and are producing new food and warmth.
So don't worry and take a closer look at our little riders.
- The structure of bacteria
As much as we would like to see something incredible under a microscope, nothing will come of it. The arrangement of bacteria is very simple. No tails, no eyes, no legs. If you look at them under a microscope, you can see something like Morse code - a point, a dash...
Nevertheless, bacteria have some specific but straightforward shapes. Today we will know how to recognize those shapes and what is inside of a bacterial cell.
- How do bacteria differ from us?
It would seem - what a simple question!
Here we are, and here are the bacteria. It's hard to find something in common between us. The difference is solid. But no. In the microcosm, everything may not be as it seems.
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Morphotypes of bacterial colonies
As we already know, bacteria are so small that they cannot be seen without a microscope. At least if it is one single bacterium. However, they have a remarkable ability to reproduce very quickly. And where there was one bacterium yesterday, there may be millions today. And that's when we will notice them.
By the way, this spectacle can even be quite cute. Check it out for yourself!
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Microbes - our little helpers
Some microbes live alone. They are called "free-living." Some are lazy and do not want to support themselves and take away resources from other creatures. Such microbes are called "parasites." But there are still others - those who help others. They are called "mutualists."
To whom and how mutualistic microbes help, we will learn in this lesson.
And we will also learn about how help can come from a completely unexpected side.
- Viruses are harmful substances
In 1885, Louis Pasteur created the rabies vaccine. And he created a vaccine blindly, not knowing what causes these rabies!
No wonder the pathogen was so hard to find. Only microscopic fungi (yeast) or bacteria were known to Pasteur. But bacteria, and especially yeast, are much larger than viruses. They can be seen in a transmission light microscope. But viruses cannot.
How did scientists manage to detect viruses since they are so invisible? We will find out about it today.
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What is immunity?
Immunity is the body's reaction, aimed at destroying and removing from it everything that is alien to it and carries a threat.
If it hadn't been, people would have been ill all the time and certainly would not live to old age.
How immunity works, we will learn in this lesson.
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Caution, microbes!
No one can see microbes with the naked eye - but they are everywhere. They surround us, waiting for the moment to attack our bodies. But how can we deal with what is not visible? The game "Caution, microbes" will show you up!
