Loading Microbe Zoo…
Biology · Microbiology
Microbe Zoo
Zoom from your hand down to a virus, watch bacteria double on a plate, build a virus shell, and run an outbreak with a slider for R₀ and vaccination.
Biology · Microbiology
Microbe Zoo
Zoom from your hand down to a virus, watch bacteria double on a plate, build a virus shell, and run an outbreak with a slider for R₀ and vaccination.
The course
7 worlds · 31 lessons
World 1 · How Small Is a Germ?
FREEFrom your hand down to a virus- 01Powers of ten: from your hand to a germEach step is ten times smaller · 11 min
- 02Millimetres, micrometres, nanometresThe units of the invisible · 10 min
- 03Seeing the invisibleWhy a light microscope cannot see a virus · 12 min
- 04Meet the microbe familyBacteria, archaea, fungi, protists and viruses · 12 min
World 2 · Bacteria: Friends and Foes
PROA whole cell with no nucleus
World 3 · Doubling on a Plate
PROHow one cell becomes a billion- 01Binary fission: one becomes twoHow bacteria reproduce · 11 minPRO
- 02The doubling rule: N = N₀ × 2^(t/td)Why one cell can become a billion · 14 minPRO
- 03The four phases of a growth curveLag, log, stationary, death · 12 minPRO
- 04Counting colonies: serial dilutionHow to count what you cannot see · 14 minPRO
- 05Warm food, cold foodTemperature steers doubling time · 12 minPRO
World 4 · Build a Virus
PROGenes in a coat- 01A virus is not a cellGenes in a coat · 11 minPRO
- 02Capsid geometry: why icosahedra?20 faces, 12 corners, 60 copies · 14 minPRO
- 03Hijack: the lytic cycleHow a virus makes copies of itself · 12 minPRO
- 04Lytic or lysogenic? The patient strategyViruses that wait · 12 minPRO
- 05Why viruses keep changingCopying errors and shuffled genomes · 13 minPRO
World 5 · Why Soap Works
PROMolecules, envelopes and clean hands- 01The soap moleculeA head that loves water, a tail that hates it · 12 minPRO
- 02Soap against viruses and bacteriaBreaking envelopes and washing things off · 13 minPRO
- 03Washing hands properlyTwenty seconds and every corner · 12 minPRO
- 04Heat, alcohol and sterilisationCleaning, disinfecting, sterilising · 14 minPRO
World 6 · Antibiotics and Resistance
PROMedicines, evolution and sharing genes
World 7 · Vaccines, Outbreaks and Herd Immunity
PROTraining the body and modelling the crowd- 01How vaccines train the bodyA safe preview of the enemy · 13 minPRO
- 02Kinds of vaccineAnd how we know they are safe · 14 minPRO
- 03The outbreak modelSusceptible, Infected, Recovered · 14 minPRO
- 04R₀ and the reproduction numberOne case, how many more? · 13 minPRO
- 05Herd immunityProtecting the people who cannot be vaccinated · 14 minPRO