Microbe
noun
A very small living thing, often one that causes disease, and can only be seen through a microscope.
Scientists are trying to identify the microbes that exist in our gut.
Often appears as...
- harmful microbes
- beneficial microbes
noun
In a broad sense, any organisms that are too small to be seen without a microscope.
Some microbes are beneficial for the environment as they help in decomposing waste.
Often appears as...
- microbes in the soil
- marine microbes
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A very small living thing, often one that causes disease, and can only be seen through a microscope.
Scientists are trying to identify the microbes that exist in our gut.
Often appears as...
- harmful microbes
- beneficial microbes
noun
In a broad sense, any organisms that are too small to be seen without a microscope.
Some microbes are beneficial for the environment as they help in decomposing waste.
Often appears as...
- microbes in the soil
- marine microbes
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Disease Association
Often used when talking about illnesses caused by invisible organisms.
Washing hands removes harmful microbes to prevent sickness.
Pro Tip 2/3Scientific Context
Commonly found in health and science discussions, less so in everyday conversation.
The lab focuses on microbe research to develop new vaccines.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Connotation
The term itself is neither negative nor positive; context shows if the microbe is harmful or helpful.
Certain microbes can improve our immune system.
Pro Tip 1/3Disease Association
Often used when talking about illnesses caused by invisible organisms.
Washing hands removes harmful microbes to prevent sickness.
Pro Tip 2/3Scientific Context
Commonly found in health and science discussions, less so in everyday conversation.
The lab focuses on microbe research to develop new vaccines.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Connotation
The term itself is neither negative nor positive; context shows if the microbe is harmful or helpful.
Certain microbes can improve our immune system.
Pro Tip 1/3Disease Association
Often used when talking about illnesses caused by invisible organisms.
Washing hands removes harmful microbes to prevent sickness.
Pro Tip 2/3Scientific Context
Commonly found in health and science discussions, less so in everyday conversation.
The lab focuses on microbe research to develop new vaccines.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Connotation
The term itself is neither negative nor positive; context shows if the microbe is harmful or helpful.
Certain microbes can improve our immune system.
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Video examples
Are spotty fruits and...
Those spots are evidence of an epic battle between plants and microbes. Like humans, plants coexist with billions of fungi and bacteria. Some of these microbes are beneficial to the plant, suppressing disease and helping it extract nutrients. Others are pathogens, attacking the produce,
Video examples
What does an alien look...
can create fantastic habitats for life microbes such as these cyanobacteria live inside impact sorted rocks and they use them for energy and for protection these are actually two types of organisms we expect to find on Mars now finally the most mars-like
Video examples
Nathalie Cabrol: How...
We are the only advanced civilization in the solar system, but that doesn't mean that there is no microbial life nearby. In fact, the planets and moons you see here could host life -- all of them -- and we know that, and it's a strong possibility.
Video examples
The amazing ways plants...
a rigid web of compounds that's tough to chew and highly impermeable to pathogens. Leaves are protected by a waxy cuticle that deters insects and microbes. Some plants go a step further with painful structures to warn would-be predators.
Video examples
Are food preservatives...
But what exactly are preservatives? How do they help keep food edible and are they safe? There are two major factors that cause food to go microbes and oxidation. Microbes like bacteria and fungi invade food and feed off its nutrients.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
carbon dioxide, and methane. Almost all oxygen was locked up in molecules like water, not floating around in the air. The oceans were populated by anaerobic microbes. Those are simple, unicellular life forms that thrive without oxygen
Video examples
The science of milk -...
UHT milk boasts a much longer shelf life, up to twelve months unrefrigerated, compared to pasteurized milk's two weeks in the fridge. That's because the higher temperatures of UHT processing inactivate far more microbes.
Video examples
How the food you eat...
Diet, too, is emerging as one of the leading influences on the health of our guts. And while we can't control all these factors, we can manipulate the balance of our microbes by paying attention to what we eat.
Video examples
Nature's First Line of...
to a microbe traveling through the albument of the yolk is like a human trying to walk across a desert there's nothing to sustain life but albumin contains lots of other things
Video examples
Exploring Toxic Ice...
the bouquets are very unique we're looking at a couple of different things but they Center on possible microbial life that lives in these caves
Video examples
Are spotty fruits and...
Those spots are evidence of an epic battle between plants and microbes. Like humans, plants coexist with billions of fungi and bacteria. Some of these microbes are beneficial to the plant, suppressing disease and helping it extract nutrients. Others are pathogens, attacking the produce,
Video examples
What does an alien look...
can create fantastic habitats for life microbes such as these cyanobacteria live inside impact sorted rocks and they use them for energy and for protection these are actually two types of organisms we expect to find on Mars now finally the most mars-like
Video examples
Nathalie Cabrol: How...
We are the only advanced civilization in the solar system, but that doesn't mean that there is no microbial life nearby. In fact, the planets and moons you see here could host life -- all of them -- and we know that, and it's a strong possibility.
Video examples
The amazing ways plants...
a rigid web of compounds that's tough to chew and highly impermeable to pathogens. Leaves are protected by a waxy cuticle that deters insects and microbes. Some plants go a step further with painful structures to warn would-be predators.
Video examples
Are food preservatives...
But what exactly are preservatives? How do they help keep food edible and are they safe? There are two major factors that cause food to go microbes and oxidation. Microbes like bacteria and fungi invade food and feed off its nutrients.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
carbon dioxide, and methane. Almost all oxygen was locked up in molecules like water, not floating around in the air. The oceans were populated by anaerobic microbes. Those are simple, unicellular life forms that thrive without oxygen
Video examples
The science of milk -...
UHT milk boasts a much longer shelf life, up to twelve months unrefrigerated, compared to pasteurized milk's two weeks in the fridge. That's because the higher temperatures of UHT processing inactivate far more microbes.
Video examples
How the food you eat...
Diet, too, is emerging as one of the leading influences on the health of our guts. And while we can't control all these factors, we can manipulate the balance of our microbes by paying attention to what we eat.
Video examples
Nature's First Line of...
to a microbe traveling through the albument of the yolk is like a human trying to walk across a desert there's nothing to sustain life but albumin contains lots of other things
Video examples
Exploring Toxic Ice...
the bouquets are very unique we're looking at a couple of different things but they Center on possible microbial life that lives in these caves
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Anthony Fauci
American Scientist
The nature of a protective immune response to HIV is still unclear. Because in a very, very unique manner, unlike virtually any other microbe with which we're familiar, the HIV virus has evolved in a way that the immune system finds it very difficult, if not impossible, to deal with the virus.
Quote examples
Margaret Chan
Chinese Public Servant
Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world. We are losing our first-line antimicrobials. Replacement treatments are more costly, more toxic, need much longer durations of treatment, and may require treatment in intensive care units.
Quote examples
Paul Davies
British Writer
The vast majority of terrestrial species are in fact microbes, and scientists have only begun scratching the surface of the microbial realm. It is entirely possible that examples of life as we don't know it have so far been overlooked.
Quote examples
Paul Stamets
American Scientist
My team and I have discovered, over decades of study, that mushroom mycelium is a rich resource of new antimicrobial compounds, which work in concert, helping protecting the mushrooms - and us - from microbial pathogens.
Quote examples
Freeman Dyson
American Physicist
The important thing is that we now have the tools to sequence all kinds of animals and plants and microbes - as well as humans. It is not important that we didn't actually finish the human sequence yet.
Quote examples
Ahmed Zewail
Egyptian Scientist
Although there exist in the world today some microbes of the soul, such as discrimination and aggression, science was and still is the core of progress for humanity and the continuity of civilization.
Quote examples
Craig Venter
American Scientist
The day is not far off when we will be able to send a robotically controlled genome-sequencing unit in a probe to other planets to read the DNA sequence of any alien microbe life that may be there.
Quote examples
Chuck Palahniuk
American Novelist
Arguing that God doesn't exist would be like people in the 10th century arguing that germs and microbes didn't exist because they couldn't see them.
Quote examples
Debra Fischer
American Scientist
If few worlds have microbial life, it dramatically reduces the chances that more complex organisms exist.
Quote examples
Kathleen Rubins
American Astronaut
I've always been fascinated with science and exploring our world, from microbes to the solar system.
Quote examples
Anthony Fauci
American Scientist
The nature of a protective immune response to HIV is still unclear. Because in a very, very unique manner, unlike virtually any other microbe with which we're familiar, the HIV virus has evolved in a way that the immune system finds it very difficult, if not impossible, to deal with the virus.
Quote examples
Margaret Chan
Chinese Public Servant
Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world. We are losing our first-line antimicrobials. Replacement treatments are more costly, more toxic, need much longer durations of treatment, and may require treatment in intensive care units.
Quote examples
Paul Davies
British Writer
The vast majority of terrestrial species are in fact microbes, and scientists have only begun scratching the surface of the microbial realm. It is entirely possible that examples of life as we don't know it have so far been overlooked.
Quote examples
Paul Stamets
American Scientist
My team and I have discovered, over decades of study, that mushroom mycelium is a rich resource of new antimicrobial compounds, which work in concert, helping protecting the mushrooms - and us - from microbial pathogens.
Quote examples
Freeman Dyson
American Physicist
The important thing is that we now have the tools to sequence all kinds of animals and plants and microbes - as well as humans. It is not important that we didn't actually finish the human sequence yet.
Quote examples
Ahmed Zewail
Egyptian Scientist
Although there exist in the world today some microbes of the soul, such as discrimination and aggression, science was and still is the core of progress for humanity and the continuity of civilization.
Quote examples
Craig Venter
American Scientist
The day is not far off when we will be able to send a robotically controlled genome-sequencing unit in a probe to other planets to read the DNA sequence of any alien microbe life that may be there.
Quote examples
Chuck Palahniuk
American Novelist
Arguing that God doesn't exist would be like people in the 10th century arguing that germs and microbes didn't exist because they couldn't see them.
Quote examples
Debra Fischer
American Scientist
If few worlds have microbial life, it dramatically reduces the chances that more complex organisms exist.
Quote examples
Kathleen Rubins
American Astronaut
I've always been fascinated with science and exploring our world, from microbes to the solar system.
Example 1 of 10
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