Explore the bacterial world with vivid stories and players

Bacteria create various smells in our world, from pleasant aromas like freshly baked bread to the less appealing ones like body odour. As bacteria produce volatile organic compounds as part of their metabolism, these contribute to the scents we encounter in our environment, food and even on our bodies. Learn about smelly examples such as the earthy scent of geosmin produced by soil bacteria, the unique aromas in fermented foods and the role of skin bacteria in creating our body odour and smelly feet.
Your immune system is constantly patrolling your body, ensuring that it stays clean and free of disease. Every single day, every hour, every minute, pathogens are pouring in, attempting to call your body their home and cause disease. But your immune system has specialised drones who bring the fight directly to the intruders. These drones are the so-called complement system. They keep bacterial pathogens at bay to ensure that we stay healthy.
Microbial fermentation is a metabolic process that impacts our food, health and many industries. Microbes degrade substrates and convert them into fermentation products, with different species producing unique products. This process is essential in food preservation, creating diverse and complex flavours in fermented foods. Additionally, the microbes involved in fermentation can have health benefits when consumed. Microbial fermentation also plays a significant role in industrial production.
Our world as well as the bacterial world are full of vibrant colours. These colours exist thanks to biopigments; molecules able to capture light and reflect the corresponding colour. Many organisms, as well as bacteria, learned to use biopigments to harvest energy from sunlight, fight foes and adapt to new and challenging environments. Read on to learn what makes the bacterial world so colourful and why biopigments are the Earth’s life savers.

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