school energy&environment
Bacteria
Bacteria are unicellular organisms, in other words they are made of a single cell. Bacteria were the first organisms that lived on the Earth. They appeared 3 billion years ago in the waters of the first oceans. Bacteria or prokaryotes are the most widespread living beings in the Earth: in a spoonful of soil, for example, it is possible to find up to 10,000 billion bacteria. Their size is extremely small, in fact most bacteria cells have a diameter that ranges from 1 to 10 microns (one micron is equivalent to one thousandth of a millimetre): a line of one thousand neatly arranged bacteria, would be only one millimetre long.
subjects dealt with in Bacteria
Bacteria knowledge
Bacteria or prokaryotes are the most common living beings on Earth: one spoonful of soil can contain, for instance, up…
Man and bacteria
The first scientist to have studied and described bacteria was Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). He was a textile dealer who…
Environment
A group of American scientists have succeeded to create some genetically modified organisms that can produce oil. The most popular…
Protection of water and soil
Pseudomonas are aerobic, rod-shaped bacteria. They can use over one hundred organic compounds as a source of energy and carbon.…
special reports
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
-
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
-
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
-
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
-
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
-
26 October 2022 / Life
Praising the meatball
Let's learn to transform waste into resources How often have we opened the refrigerator to find a couple of eggs…
-
10 October 2022 / Life
Spider lullaby
There are spiders that weave a classic web, that one we all know, to catch prey. There are others who…
-
19 September 2022 / Life
Double blow to dinosaurs
The Main Asteroid Belt is between Mars and Jupiter, an enormous ring consisting of millions of large and small rocks…
-
24 May 2022 / Life
Amphibians in peril
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns: the extinction rate of amphibians is about 200 times greater than…
-
8 March 2022 / Life
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
-
27 February 2022 / Life
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
-
12 February 2022 / Life
A naturalist's voyage around the world
12 February is Darwin Day, the annual event that falls on the birthday of Charles Darwin (born 12 February 1809),…
-
18 December 2021 / Life
The Christmas Star Tradition
A plant that symbolises the Christmas season, decorating homes and shops and featured prominently by the florists and garden centres…
-
15 September 2021 / Life
Can you be intelligent without a brain?
Can you be intelligent without a brain? The answer is "in a certain sense, yes" and this is demonstrated by…
from the Multimedia section
curiosities
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
-
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
-
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
-
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...
-
Vampire curiosities
A harmless vampire The bat, called common vampire bat, sucks blood, but rather than Dracula, the protagonist of many terrifying…
-
Bats, facts and fiction
Legend or fact? In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches…
-
Fish are champions migrators
Migratory fish are true athletes: some of them swim thousands of kilometres during their migration from their birthplace to the…
-
The thousand uses of lichens
Throughout history, humans have used lichens for a variety of purposes. The oldest evidence of lichen use dates back to…
-
Unusual vegetables
Distributed at all latitudes, lichens are able to conquer extreme biotopes, adapting to living in places where plants would find…
-
Watch out for aliens!
Italy has some new inhabitants, but that is no cause for celebration: the list of alien species is long. Two…
-
Plants and bacteria giving new "light" to off grid communities
"Planta lampara", a lamp powered by the energy produced thanks to the combination of plants and bacteria...