What biologists don't know.

[hallenrm]

Such is the state of knowledge today, but remember it is susceptible to change, just like many beliefs that were held to be true for ages! :beer:

[hallenrm]

Unlike our skin and guts, our blood is effectively bacteria-free.

 

Not really true atleast in the light of the recent discovery of nanobacteria! For example see the following news item.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3729487.stm

 

This is the result of the work of a team, led by Dr John Lieske at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester who conducted an analysis of calcified and non-calcified arteries, arterial plaques and heart valves collected as surgical waste from two US hospitals.

 

In the lab, they stained the specimens and examined them under a high power electron microscope.

 

The team found tiny spheres ranging in size from 30-100 nanometers (nm - billionths of a metre), which is smaller even than many viruses.

 

The fact is that many more forms of bacteria can never be cultured so they are often insusceptible to investigation by the conventional techniques. If you want a reference here it is:Science, 21 Mar 1977 p 1740 ' Microbiologists Explore life's rich, hidden kingdoms' According to this report only about 1 percent of the bacteria that can be detected grow in a culture.

 

:shrug:

[Boerseun]

Although the incidence of diseases, both bacterial ones such as syphilis, and viral ones such as Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS, is significantly higher in prison populations than in the general population, this higher incidence appears to be the result of criminal behavior, most significantly inhaled and injected illicit drug use, rather than the disease being the cause of the criminal behavior.

You wouldn't say that that the higher incidence is merely a result of the unnatural confinement that a prison population is subject to, with the accompanying degrading of sanitary conditions?

[CraigD]

You wouldn't say that that the higher incidence [of bacterial and viral diseases] is merely a result of the unnatural confinement that a prison population is subject to, with the accompanying degrading of sanitary conditions?

For specific diseases, such as tuberulosis (bacterial), yes, the packed conditions of nearly all prisons are a major source of new infections. Others, such as Hepatitis C, the most common disease among people released from prison, can be as readily contracted in wide-open places as crowded.

 

I’ve long suspected that both the reality and the perception that incarceration is likely to give a person an incurable, fatal disease, contributes to a desperate, nihilistic mindset among young and minor offenders, decreasing the likelihood of their rehabilitation. So you could say that bacteria cause criminal behavior, but indirectly, due to the psychological impact of having debilitating and stigmatizing diseases.

 

Despite the risks to the general population, both for being a crime victim, or contracting a disease from a former inmate, the general attitude in the US seems to favor punishment over rehabilitation. Many people appear to want prison conditions to be unhealthy, and view rehabilitation programs such as in-prison education and vocational training as affording inappropriate privilege. This attitude appears to have been represented by legislation having substantial impact on prisoners – for example, section 20411 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which bans prisoners from receiving Pell grants for college education, despite strong statistical evidence that obtaining a college degree dramatically reduces the likelihood of a person continuing to commit crimes after their release. Fortunately, in most prisons, state and federal funded education toward receiving a high school diploma (GED) remains available.

[Michaelangelica]

Bryson's book is great.

Required reading for everyone

 

I found the most astounding statement- in the book- is that all bacteria can swap genetic material with all other bacteria at will

Amazing!

[CraigD]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3729487.stm

 

This is the result of the work of a team, led by Dr John Lieske at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester who conducted an analysis of calcified and non-calcified arteries, arterial plaques and heart valves collected as surgical waste from two US hospitals.

 

In the lab, they stained the specimens and examined them under a high power electron microscope.

 

The team found tiny spheres ranging in size from 30-100 nanometers (nm - billionths of a metre), which is smaller even than many viruses.

Fascinating research! However, whatever you call these tiny things – nanobacteria, calcifying nanoparticles, or something completely different – it’s very unlikely that they actually are very small bacteria, and still uncertain if they are biologically alive. Discounting some rumors that Finish biologist Olavi Kajander has extracted and sequenced their DNA, but biology journals won’t publish his findings, nobody has thus far found conclusive evidence that they have DNA, or even RNA, so it remains very possible that they’re mineral, not animal.

 

Whatever nanobacteria – or even smaller possible lifeforms like nanobes and prions, turn out to be, they’re certainly wonderful and exciting, showing that science is far from running out of frontiers!

[somebody]

every interesting passage there craigD. I am a biology student and taking lower division classes, so all i can say is that i indeed believe that those organism do play an important role in their surrounding (surrounding being the humans) and without them it would be HARD for us to be alive.

 

also want to mention something out, like humans do these bacterias also live on other animals? and if they do then wouldn't they be a small part of the evolution of that species, since they are in that species surrounding environment?

[hallenrm]

Continuing further, bacteria have been found living in boiling mud pots and lakes of caustic soda, deep inside rocks, at the bottom of the sea; in hidden pools of icy water at Antarctica, or even tens of kilometers down in the oceans (where pressures are more than several thousand atm.

 

Some of them seem to be practically indestructible, as mention in an article published in The Economist (1.July 2000), some may even be immune to exposure to radioactivity. If its DNA is blasted with radiation, the pieces reform like the scuttling limbs of an imaginary creature in a horror movie!!

 

That much against some common beliefs about bacteria!:ebomb:

[Boerseun]

That much against some common beliefs about bacteria!:ebomb:

What I believe about bacteria:

We should find samples of all the extremophile bacteria out there that are heat- and cold-loving, that thrive under UV, eat rocks, and can live on minimal water.

 

We should breed them in vast numbers and fill hundreds of rockets with them.

 

We should launch these rockets to Mars. We've been there, and found no life. So there aren't any moral issues.

 

These bacteria should be randomly distributed all over the planet.

 

They are dark in colour, so in increasing their number, they would be lowering Mars' albedo, raising surface temperature in the process.

 

They will also add to the atmosphere, raising surface pressure.

 

Once the pressure and temperature is raised to a high enough point, the CO2 polar caps will melt, increasing the atmospheric volume even further. Whatever water there is locked up in the poles, are now available for the introduction of blue-green algae, a hardy bastard that produces oxygen. All of this constantly adding to the atmospheric mix.

 

Sit back and relax. You'll soon have a livable, inhabitable, almost Earth-like planet.

 

But you'll have to sit for quite a few million years, though. But seeding the place now with bacteria would be a good start, I guess...

[clapstyx]

Ahh Bacteria on Mars as a seeding strategy. Why didnt someone think of that before. In 400 million years, if it worked, they might be saying "hey see that burnt out planet Earth why dont we stick a few amoeba and some blue green algae on there and see what happens" you do realise that people would say you were loony tunes if you said the Earth was started that way. The question is whether you are ahead of your time or a few million years behind in the catchup. Dumb humans! lol

[hallenrm]

Getting on with the topic, let us see what do we really understand by the term bacteria. Does the term conjure up an image of an entity that represents each and every member of this biological species.

 

As I have already told, bacteria need not necessarily be an organism that can be destroyed using extreme conditions, viz temperature, pressure or chemical environment. They can be found almost anywhere, more so in our body, where their numbers can be astounding and they are both useful as they can be harmful. Interesting organisms indeed!

 

They do deserve more attention then what they get. Manufacturers of various kinds of antibiotics and chemicals used in personal health care would like us to believe that they are the organisms which we can easily get rid of by using their products, a claim which is hardly close to truth, but the biology teacher is never taught the truth, she invariably repeats the messages we hear/see in the advertisements in the media.

 

But what I have been attempting to bring forth through this thread is the fact that our present knowledge about bacteria is scant. We need to work much more to know more, especially keep our eyes, ears and minds open to any news. For example, my newspaper reported today that some scientists have discovered a bacteria that has the smallest cellular genome, it is called Carsonella Ruddi. I am sure many more kinds of bacteria are there to be discovered (even those that may be present in our blood stream and can survive the leucocytes). They may one day be used for communication just as we use cell phones today!:omg:

[hallenrm]

Now let me delve on the topic head on!

 

What most biologists are unaware of is the state of their own body at any moment of time. Most of us do not have time to spare to sense our body in totality. At the most we sense the pain or unease we experience during the course of a disease.

 

Not convinced, try it yourself!

 

Try to be conciouse of your body, your mind, what is it yearning to do!

Perhaps you can sense the struggle for existence/power between the major communities of bacteria that inhabit your body. If you continue the practice, overtime, you can feel that there are some communities in minority too, that give rise to those lingering doubts. :)