Question: if we get all the microbes in the world how big would it be and would it be bad to do it or would we benafit it

Panos Soultanas answered on 16 Jun 2010:

Hello tristan,

Microbes are an important part of the world. Probably higher life was evolved from microbes and we have many common biochemical processes in common with microbes..! We can clearly see this when working with tiny molecules that bring about life like DNA and proteins. We have many common things with microbes.

Microbes are much more than humans. In fact their numbers are astronomical. They outnumber us massively but it is impossible to calculate with certainty precise numbers. To give you an idea even 1 litre of bacteria growing overnight in the lab will produce many more bacteria than are humans on the earth.

Not all microbes are bad. many microbes are very good for us and the environment. In fact using genetic engineering and synthetic biology we are trying to make microbes work for us doing several imoprtant tasks, like producing important drugs, clean up oil spillages like the one in the gulf at the moment and many other things.