The unseen majority
For every star in the galaxy there are countless microbes in a spoonful of soil — bacteria and viruses run the planet unseen. Microbiology is meeting this invisible majority that shapes health, food, and the whole living world.
Life too small to see
Microbes outnumber every visible organism on Earth. Bacteria are living prokaryotic cells — no nucleus — that grow and divide on their own. Viruses are not cells at all: they are genetic material in a protein coat that can only reproduce by hijacking a host cell. That single difference shapes how we fight each.
Why antibiotics miss viruses
Antibiotics attack bacterial machinery — cell walls, bacterial ribosomes. Viruses have none of that, so antibiotics do nothing to them. This is why a cold (viral) will not respond to an antibiotic.