Bacteria: Interesting Facts

Bacteria is all around us, from the air we breath to the food and water we consume, but all we seem to hear about is the harm that it causes from illness outbreaks to contaminated foods (the recent being the peanut scare). Bacteria has been around for millions of years and according to the Bacteria Museum even fossilized bacteria has been unearthed. Bacteria can also be extremely helpful, even tasty. This article shows eight ways that bacteria help in the world we live in from the food we eat the products that are in our daily lives.

1. According to Live Science (www.livescience.com) the bacteria found in yogurt can come to your teeth's rescue as the bacteria that has been used in the making of yogurt has been found to help prevent plaque from sticking to teeth and scientists are currently working on introducing it into toothpaste.

2. Bacteria make limburger cheese so smelly [okay, only some people like the cheese, but bacteria are hard at work for us] (www.bacteriamuseum.org).

3. Bacteria helps ferment the beans used for making chocolate and coffer, but they bacteria themselves do not show up in the final product we all enjoy. (www.bacteriamuseum.org)

4. Bacteria is used to help preserve food from vegetables such as cucumbers (pickles) and cabbage (sauerkraut and Kim chi) to meats (sausages). Bacteria are even useful in helping make sauces such as soy sauce. (www.fao.org)

5. Bacteria are used to make wine as well as vinegar, which is wine that has been allowed to ferment longer that wine.

6. According to the Bacteria Museum, sunlight can disinfect water from harmful bacteria, but this process can take up to ninety-five minutes as long as it is in direct light. Boiling water is still the safest way to remove harmful bacteria if one is not sure about the drinking water.

7. According to the American Chemical Society (www.acs.org), chili powder, pepper and turmeric help prevent the destruction of certain bacteria such as E. Coli.

8. According the Enchanted Learning, bacteria has a wide range of diets, but essentially there are two from heterotrophs, which are bacteria that eats other organisms and autotrophs, which are bacteria that make their own food. (www.enchantedlearning.com)

To help children learn more about the microorganisms and bacteria that surround us, visit www.bacteriamuseum.org and visit the children's section as it has printable coloring pages for the younger children and can help older children research and write reports for biology or science classes.