The World of Microbes

This past week in science class, we have been learning about the world of the tiny and the world of the very, very tiny. With students, teachers and the general public concerned about infection by the H1N1 virus, it seems to be a good time to begin our study of microbes. There is a very important link between bacteria and plants, but we'll explore that later. For now, we've been looking at the scale of microbes, i.e. their relative size, primarily through this ultra-cool website Cell Size and Scale. We've also been learning about differences between viruses and bacteria, specifically examining how viruses invade and reproduce in one's body. A video produced by National Public Radio has done a fantastic job depicting this process; it can be found on the site Flu Attack! How a Virus Invades Your Body. And finally, everyone got a big kick out of these suggestions on alternative greetings during the flu season: Don't Gimme Five!