Fun Facts
Microbes (also sometimes called “bugs”) are microscopic organisms. They are very small. Fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses are all different types of microbes.
Some microbes are bad, because they can cause diseases; but other microbes are good and help people. For example, yeast is a helpful microbe that humans use to make breads. Other good microbes are used to make medicines for people and their animals.
Mikey Microbe and the Microbial Action Team are very good because they clean up polluted water and soil. Other combinations of good microbes can help farmers grow bigger crops (without fertilizers that harm the environment).
The more you learn about microbes, the more you’ll appreciate them:
- Microbes are the oldest form of life on Earth. They’ve been here for 3.8 billion years!
- Microbes, by weight, represent 60 percent of the biomass of all life on Earth!
- Microbes produce more than half of all the oxygen we breathe!
- Microbes are the ultimate survivors: they are found just about everywhere on Earth!
- A liter of coastal seawater can contain a billion or more microbes!
- A single gram of soil can contain more than a billion microbes!
Even though you can’t see them without a microscope, microbes are thriving everywhere you go. The right combinations of beneficial microbes can eat pollution until it disappears, then the microbe populations disappear, too, because there’s no more pollution for them to eat.
To learn more about beneficial microbes, read books you can check-out at the library or search online for more fun facts. You can also learn more about microbes by reading Mikey Microbe Comic Book or downloading the Mikey Microbe Coloring Book. When you know enough about microbes to appreciate them, you’ll be ready to do what you can do to help.
