Description:
The Hidden Power of Microbes - Melissa Booth - 2024
By: Melissa Booth, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Melissa Booth
Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 11-08-24
Categories: Science & Engineering, Biology
Language: English
Publisher: The Great Courses
Format: mp3 64/48 stereo
Note: Includes the accompanying supplemental enhancement (pdf)
Right this minute, your body is carrying roughly 38 trillion microbial cells along with it—and in the vast majority of cases, you couldn’t live without them. On top of that, you harbor around 380 trillion viruses, most of which are either beneficial or benign. The Hidden Power of Microbes draws back the curtain on this vast microworld in 24 half-hour lectures delivered by acclaimed science communicator Dr. Melissa Booth, research scientist, professor, and Founder and Principal of The Science Communicator, devoted to training scientists to tell accurate, compelling stories about their fields.
Dr. Booth covers the major types of microbes, the history of their discovery, their evolution and physiology, their role in human health and disease, their importance in agriculture and industry, their ubiquity in every corner of nature, and the possibility that they even exist beyond Earth. As a narrative tool, she introduces a fictional character named Lina. Throughout the course, you follow Lina’s experiences with the tiny organisms that she encounters and that colonize her—from birth through adulthood. Lina goes from almost zero microbial exposure in her mother’s womb to a wholesale invasion during birth and its aftermath. How is it that infants can survive—and indeed thrive—in this radical new environment?
The course shows how everyone develops their own unique “microbiome,” shaped by factors like diet, environment, and daily interactions. Disease can occur when this intricate ecosystem is disrupted, which may result not only from invading pathogens but also from normally beneficial microorganisms reacting to changes, such as injury or a weakened immune system.
Dr. Booth describes the metabolism of bacteria, yeast, viruses, and other microbes, making their intricate machinery understandable and linking it to processes such as digestion, fermentation, and antibiotic activity. True to her science communicating calling, Dr. Booth turns microbiology into a thrilling detective story!
Contents:
01. Welcome to the Microbial Jungle
02. The Human Microbiome
03. Skin, Gut, and Respiratory Tract Microbes
04. Fermentation: Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate
05. The Functions of Your Gut Microbiome
06. Can Microbes Control Your Mind and Behavior?
07. How Lifestyle Influences Your Microbiome
08. When Is a Microbiome Helpful or Harmful?
09. How to Endure: Adapt, Be Small, and Go Quiet
10. Survival of the Microbial Fittest
11. Cooperation among Microbes
12. Zoonotic Diseases and Pandemics
13. The Story of How Microbes Were Discovered
14. The Growing Threat of Antibiotic Resistance
15. Viruses and Bacteriophages
16. Immunizations and the Discovery of Vaccines
17. Learning to Live in Extreme Environments
18. The Crucial Roles of Marine Microbes
19. How Microbes Make Soil
20. How Plants and Microbes Feed the World
21. Extraterrestrial Microbes
22. A World without Microbes
23. The Cutting Edge of Microbe Research
24. Using Microbes to Solve Humanity’s Problems
©2024 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2024 The Great Courses
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