The most general definition of the word 'population' can be: "All the inhabitants of a particular place", (source: Oxford dictionary). From there, I'll pick the concept used in biology: "A community of animals, plants, or humans among whose members interbreeding occurs" cause I want to talk a bit about microorganisms.
It is well know (if you didn't know it before, don't be scared!) that our body has many and diverse microorganisms. Each of them is in charge of an specific task (producing enzymes for food processing; protecting our body from external pathogens; to reproduce and renovate cells, etc...), so that you can have a great immune system. Actually, this reminds me the House MD Episode 6x08 "Teamwork", where the patient final diagnosis was extra-intestinal Crohn's disease which the worms (he had) were actually keeping at bay due to his extra clean childhood. Treatment includes giving him the worms back. So, don't keep your baby 'extremely' cleaned!
In my current work, I analyse the role of microorganism in water treatment processes cause they are extremely efficient in doing this job. There is a particular group(s) of microorganisms for every scenario including: existence (or lack of) oxygen, ranges of temperature, etc. Microorganisms are also presented in sludge treatment, where (in absence of oxygen) methane gas (also called as biogas) can be produced. By the way, methane gas is becoming an excellent alternative, for example, in vehicle transportation and electricity production. You can find related info of these topics here:
http://kyocp.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/types-of-bacteria-used-in-wastewater-treatment/
http://www.microtack.com/html/natural_treatment05.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas
Recently, cosmonauts from the International Space Station reported evidence of plankton outside this platform (!!!). This announcement is quite impressive, and the possible explanation is not totally clear. For more info about it, please visit:
http://www.space.com/26888-sea-plankton-space-station-russian-claim.html
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/21/sea-plankton-have-been-found-on-the-international-space-station-but-how-did-they-get-there
It is also amazing the news about the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA, carried out by Craig Venter and his work team. This opens plenty of doors in cell manipulation, cell programming and a large etc!. See a brief explanation from Craig about the creation of 'synthetic life' here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life
Indeed, the sense of 'population' can exist even in the cellular level, then we are talking about a huge field called cellular biology. A fantastic talk, which includes a very nice animation, is given by the Medical animator David Bolinsky here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_bolinsky_animates_a_cell
It is well know (if you didn't know it before, don't be scared!) that our body has many and diverse microorganisms. Each of them is in charge of an specific task (producing enzymes for food processing; protecting our body from external pathogens; to reproduce and renovate cells, etc...), so that you can have a great immune system. Actually, this reminds me the House MD Episode 6x08 "Teamwork", where the patient final diagnosis was extra-intestinal Crohn's disease which the worms (he had) were actually keeping at bay due to his extra clean childhood. Treatment includes giving him the worms back. So, don't keep your baby 'extremely' cleaned!
In my current work, I analyse the role of microorganism in water treatment processes cause they are extremely efficient in doing this job. There is a particular group(s) of microorganisms for every scenario including: existence (or lack of) oxygen, ranges of temperature, etc. Microorganisms are also presented in sludge treatment, where (in absence of oxygen) methane gas (also called as biogas) can be produced. By the way, methane gas is becoming an excellent alternative, for example, in vehicle transportation and electricity production. You can find related info of these topics here:
http://kyocp.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/types-of-bacteria-used-in-wastewater-treatment/
http://www.microtack.com/html/natural_treatment05.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas
Recently, cosmonauts from the International Space Station reported evidence of plankton outside this platform (!!!). This announcement is quite impressive, and the possible explanation is not totally clear. For more info about it, please visit:
http://www.space.com/26888-sea-plankton-space-station-russian-claim.html
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/21/sea-plankton-have-been-found-on-the-international-space-station-but-how-did-they-get-there
It is also amazing the news about the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA, carried out by Craig Venter and his work team. This opens plenty of doors in cell manipulation, cell programming and a large etc!. See a brief explanation from Craig about the creation of 'synthetic life' here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life
Indeed, the sense of 'population' can exist even in the cellular level, then we are talking about a huge field called cellular biology. A fantastic talk, which includes a very nice animation, is given by the Medical animator David Bolinsky here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_bolinsky_animates_a_cell
It is impossible to summarize all the info about microorganism in this post, but at least I want you to have a glance of the huge diversity and applications of microorganisms in our world. For sure, new populations will be discovered (and created) in the coming years, and they will give us useful and interesting applications.
See you around!
Jesus
See you around!
Jesus