Fermented foods
Lactic species acidify vegetables and milk into stable, flavourful foods.
Kitchens already run microbial factories: yoghurt, cheese, kimchi, sourdough. The same word 'bacteria' covers dinner and disease because the tree is huge.
Trying to bleach every surface is neither possible nor wise. Target high-risk moments: raw meat juices, toilets, wounds, hospital devices.
Everyday uses
Compost & soil
Decomposers return nutrients; sterilised soil is a poor garden.
Wastewater
Treatment plants farm bacteria to eat dissolved pollution.
Food safety clock
The 'danger zone' is about doubling time in warm protein, not mysticism.
Oral ecology
Plaque is a community; sugar and time shift it toward cavities.
Travel guts
New water and food mean new neighbours; most upsets are self-limited, some are not.
A useful household rule: respect moisture, time and protein ? that is where unwanted growth actually happens.
Keep exploring
More in Tree of microbes
Viruses
Packets of DNA or RNA that are not cells — they replicate only inside living hosts.
Familiarity 96Fungi
A eukaryotic kingdom of yeasts, moulds and mushrooms — chitin walls, external digestion, partners of plants.
Familiarity 80Archaea
A prokaryotic domain that is not bacteria — methanogens, extremophiles and no known human pathogens.
Familiarity 35Bacteriophages
Viruses that infect bacteria — Earth's most abundant biological entities, and a concept-level idea in medicine.
Familiarity 42Protozoa
Motile unicellular eukaryotes — a teaching grade that includes pond ciliates and a minority of serious parasites.
Familiarity 58