You are watching an action movie and

1
CHAPTER 14 END QUESTIONS

• You are watching an action movie and the bad
  guys unleash bacteria as a biological weapon
  into the water supply and the bacteria quickly
  spreads through the water. You immediately think
  that this movie isnt very realistic - why?
• After switching your major to biology, you take a
  class in microbiology in your second year. After
  culturing a petri dish full of bacteria you get
  to thinking about the history of life on Earth
  how old are bacteria? by what process(es) did the
  first ones form? what forms of life descended
  from bacteria and how?
• While watching television you see a commercial
  where some bacteria are magnified 1000x and then
  given a green color while some creepy music plays
  someone is trying to frighten you into buying a
  product but are most bacteria actually harmful?
  might some actually be helpful? what about the
  human immune system, did it evolve in the
  presence of bacteria and if so, what does that
  mean?
• Paying you a (possible) compliment, your friend
  says that you are one serious extremophile what
  does this mean and what other forms of life also
  share this name?
• A friend of the family decides to get botox
  what is this and how can its source organism be
  dangerous? in general, how can spores be
  dangerous?
• While out in the desert, a snake bites you. You
  get indignant and decide to bite it back and
  while doing so you notice that its delicious.
  After being treated with snake anti-venom you
  cook the snake and eat it what did you just
  prove?
• You hear in the news that a major oil spill has
  happened off the coast what are some of the
  newer ways that we might go about cleaning things
  up?
• Going through a forest you notice that you never
  see any dead animals on the forest floor why?