Bacteria, Viruses, Cells and other nasty bugs. Warning very scientific might make your brain explode

What are bacteria, viruses and cells all about? Why are they so interesting? I will show you how cool they are in a moment, but first what are bacteria?

These are bacilli bacteria.

Bacteria are very tiny living things, they are not part of the plants or animals kingdom; they have a kingdom of their own (eubacteria and archeabacteria.) Bacteria are tiny single celled microorganisms, they are usually around a few micrometers long and usually exist together in millions. Bacteria come in three main shapes: 1) like a ball and are usually the simplest ones. They are called cocci, 2) rod shaped (called bacilli), 3) spiral shaped (called spirilla).

You might be thinking that all bacteria are bad, but you actually can’t live without them! For example some bacteria help you digest and others help you defend your body, Plus some bacteria helps make food like yogurt and cheese. Still there are also bad bacteria like E coli and antherax that makes you feel sick.

How do bacteria reproduce? Usually it is binary fission which the cell keeps growing and growing until a new cell wall grows through the center, forming 2 daughter cells. Every daughter cell has the same genetics as the parent cell. A few ways bacteria eat are called heterophic bacteria which absorb organic dead materials; some kill their food, while some help them. Another way is called autotrophs which they make their own food.

Now for some facts about bacteria: Planet Earth is estimated to hold at least 5 nonillion bacteria (that's 30 zeros), the average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet, chocolate has an anti-bacterial effect on the mouth and actually protects against tooth decay (say that to your parents the next time they say that chocolate is bad for your teeth), most antibiotics are made from bacteria, new bacteria grows on a sponge every 20 minutes (say that to your parents the next time they tell you to wash the dishes.)

What are viruses? They are microscopic parasites that are many times smaller than bacteria; they also can’t reproduce by themselves so they actually “hack” into a cell’s body and remakes its D.N.A and make it create more copies of itself.

Viruses are very contagious so it makes it harder to avoid than bacteria, one touch can lead you to a deadly disease.

Like bacteria, there are actually some viruses that are good and help your body’s immune system (kind of ironic that its cousins harm us.) Here are some diseases caused by viruses: the common cold, measles, the flu, Rabies, Ebola and many more(a lot more.) We treat these viruses with things called antibiotics which kill off the viruses, one of the most famous antibiotic is called “penicillin”which was found in 1897 and made a antibiotic in 1928 and used to treat wounds in WWII, but now, some viruses have developed special defences to the antibodies so some anti bodies won’t work for some viruses.

Now for a fact: viruses aren’t really “alive” because they can’t reproduce, they can only hack into other cells to make copies of themselves.

What are cells? Cells are the basic organism of life they make up almost everything in life every living thing you see is made of millions of cells; cells though are made out of proteins. Cells divide almost the same way as bacteria do, they copy their DNA until they split into two cells, and each cell has the same DNA as the parent.

Cells are mostly good but there are bad cells that might gave bad information and duplicate making more and more bad cells, this is what some of the most deadly diseases that come from cells are AIDS, HIV and cancer which is really surprising. Now for some cell facts when they are infected by a virus or other bad viruses they actually commit suicide called apoptosis, sometimes if a cell can’t apoptosis it might end up with cancer happening. Good ways to stay away from all these dangerous diseases is to have common sense and to wash your hands daily.

Thanks for reading!