the.com/germs
the original immortals, outnumbering you a thousand to one and waiting patiently to inherit the planet
means Microscopic organisms—bacteria, viruses, and the like—that can cause disease, especially when transferred from surfaces, air, or other people.
from From Latin 'germen,' meaning a sprout, bud, or seed—the same root that gives us 'germinate.' For centuries a 'germ' was simply the living kernel from which something grows (we still speak of the 'germ' of an idea or wheat germ). Only in the 19th century, as scientists like Pasteur and Koch built the germ theory of disease, did the word narrow to its modern sense: the tiny seeds not of plants but of sickness.
- head count
- your body holds more microbes than human cells
- deep time
- bacteria ruled Earth alone for two billion years
- travel range
- a sneeze launches droplets up to 27 feet
- survival flex
- some bacteria thrive in boiling deep-sea vents
- good guys
- most germs are harmless or actively keep you alive
vibrio cholerae — bacterium that killed ~1 million in 2010 haiti earthquake aftermath
mycobacterium tuberculosis — infects ~10 million people annually, leading infectious disease killer
plasmodium falciparum — malaria parasite responsible for ~627,000 deaths in 2022 alone
sars-cov-2 — virus that caused covid-19 pandemic starting december 2019