The Seven Wonders of the Microbe World

This video has been removed at the request of open university.

After producing 60 Second Adventures in Thought and The History of English, the Open University returns with a new video series, Seven Wonders of the Microbe World.

Microbes have given us some devastating diseases, everything from the Black Death to cholera, syphilis, typhoid and the occasional yeast infection. But our microbial friends have also done us some good. Without microbes, we wouldn’t have wine and beer (something the Ancient Egyptians started producing some 6,000 years ago), nor much oxygen and fixated nitrogen, all essential for plant, animal and human life. And don’t forget antibiotics, fine cheeses and the rest.

You can watch the Seven Wonders of the Microbe World in seven installments on YouTube (see list below) or via iTunes. Or, simply sit back and watch the 25 minute consolidated video (above) that brings it all together for you.

1. The History of Beer
2. The Black Death
3. Food Preservation
4. Nitrogen Fixation
5. Antibiotics
6. Genetic Engineering
7. Life on Mars