As mentioned already several times, the world of living things can be divided quite simply into that which we can see (animals, plants, us!) and that which we cannot see. We share this planet with microscopic life that actually far outnumber the life-forms we can see and whose importance to our lives across a huge range of areas is completely out of proportion to their size. We need the assistance of microscopes or other tools to reveal the incredible diversity, richness, and sheer vastness of this hidden world. In terms of the sphere of human life with which we are concerned in this book, food, we worry about two things to do with microorganisms in food, which are safety and spoilage, but these are not the same thing. For example, milk containing a bacterium called Pseudomonas could look green, be stinky, and have lumps floating in it, but could be quite safe, while milk containing listeria could look fresh as could be but would make you very ill, perhaps even fatally, were you to drink it. In addition, yogurt containing bacteria called Bifidobacteria might not only be neither unpleasant nor dangerous but might actually be good for you, as these are probiotic bacteria, which are believed to colonize the human gut and help keep us healthy. So (cue Ennio Morricone music, and distinctive whistling), bacteria in food can be good (like the probiotics), bad (like the pathogens), or ugly (like the types that cause spoilage). Of course, the population of living things we cannot see in food is much broader than bacteria too and encompasses viruses (generally these don’t come in good or ugly variants, and are usually simply bad news, as when they cause food poisoning because of their contamination of products like oysters) and fungi such as yeasts and molds.
The Effect of Social Studies Courses on Digital Self Formation in Turkey
