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Everything About Microbes

Microbes, explained — allies, viruses, variants and everyday encounters

Bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and the ways they meet us: fermentation, microbiomes, mutation, vaccines and the illnesses people actually encounter. Visual, multilingual, and not a laboratory manual.

24topics 4families 168chapters 9languages
At a glance
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Start here

Short paths into the atlas — pick one and follow the seven sections.

🫀Gut microbiomeA diverse intestinal community fed by fibre — not a single ideal species list and not a wellness shop.

Popular in Everything About Microbes

BacteriaSingle-celled prokaryotes with cell walls — the oldest widespread life form, and both partners and pathogens.VirusesPackets of DNA or RNA that are not cells — they replicate only inside living hosts.FungiA eukaryotic kingdom of yeasts, moulds and mushrooms — chitin walls, external digestion, partners of plants.ArchaeaA prokaryotic domain that is not bacteria — methanogens, extremophiles and no known human pathogens.BacteriophagesViruses that infect bacteria — Earth's most abundant biological entities, and a concept-level idea in medicine.ProtozoaMotile unicellular eukaryotes — a teaching grade that includes pond ciliates and a minority of serious parasites.

Best-of microbe rankings

Microbes FAQ

Is this advice?
Public-health education — not a care plan, prescription, or outbreak briefing.
Where to start?
Identity → How they live → Body & health
Local lens?
public-health desks and lab teaching frames
What are scores?
Editorial 0–100 browsing aid within this atlas.

Scale of microbial life

Scale of microbial life Scale of microbial life 10 nm to 100 µm 10 nm 100 nm 1 µm 10 µm 100 µm Viruses 100 nm Bacteriophages 200 nm Bacteria 2 µm Archaea 2 µm Fungi yeast ~4 µm Protozoa 40 µm

Size, generation time and typical numbers — teaching marks, not lab measurements.

Size scale tips

Log-scale sizes, benefit–risk browsing, and encounter caveats in one pillar.

Read scale tips →

The map of microbes

Every topic placed by benefit and risk. Bubble size is medical weight.

Risk ?Benefit ?
BBacteriaVVirusesFFungiAArchaeaBBacteriophagesPProtozoaGGut microbiomePProbioticsFFermentationSSkin microbiomeSSoil microbesNNitrogen cycleMMutation and variantsAAntibiotic resistanceVVaccines and immunityBBiofilmsHHygiene and balanceHHorizontal gene transferIInfluenzaTTuberculosisEEscherichia coliSStaphylococcus aureusNNorovirusHHelicobacter pylori

Top-right: high benefit and high risk often travel together — fermentation is not influenza.

Benefit–risk map FAQ

Is the quadrant a ranking?
No. It is a browsing aid for familiarity and risk context — not a clinical score.
Why plot benefit and risk together?
Many microbes sit in both stories (fermentation vs infection); the map keeps both visible.

By family

Tree of microbes

Bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, phages and protozoa — the main branches of microbial life.

6 topics

Beneficial allies

Gut and skin microbiomes, probiotics, fermentation, soil life and the nitrogen cycle.

6 topics

Change & defence

Mutation and variants, biofilms, gene transfer, antibiotic resistance, vaccines and hygiene balance.

6 topics

Encounters

Influenza, tuberculosis, E. coli, staph, norovirus and Helicobacter — public-health meetings, not a how-to.

6 topics

Across every topic

Scale of life

From nanometres to colonies — how size, time and numbers change what a microbe can do.

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Compare topics

Familiarity, medical weight, benefit, risk, research and debate — side by side.

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Microbe timeline

Discoveries, outbreaks and tools that changed how we see the invisible.

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Image credits

Every photograph and artwork on these pages, with its author and licence.

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Browse every topic

Search or narrow by family and benefit / risk bands.

Benefit Risk

Tree of microbes

Bacteria

Single-celled prokaryotes with cell walls — the oldest widespread life form, and both partners and pathogens.

Familiarity 95

Viruses

Packets of DNA or RNA that are not cells — they replicate only inside living hosts.

Familiarity 96

Fungi

A eukaryotic kingdom of yeasts, moulds and mushrooms — chitin walls, external digestion, partners of plants.

Familiarity 80

Archaea

A prokaryotic domain that is not bacteria — methanogens, extremophiles and no known human pathogens.

Familiarity 35

Bacteriophages

Viruses that infect bacteria — Earth's most abundant biological entities, and a concept-level idea in medicine.

Familiarity 42

Protozoa

Motile unicellular eukaryotes — a teaching grade that includes pond ciliates and a minority of serious parasites.

Familiarity 58

Beneficial allies

Gut microbiome

A diverse intestinal community fed by fibre — not a single ideal species list and not a wellness shop.

Familiarity 88

Probiotics

Live microbes in food or capsules — strain-specific guests, not a whole microbiome and not medical advice.

Familiarity 90

Fermentation

Microbes turning food into kimchi, doenjang, yoghurt and other living crafts — chemistry plus culture.

Familiarity 85

Skin microbiome

A site-specific living film — oily, moist and dry neighbourhoods, not a sterile wrapper.

Familiarity 62

Soil microbes

The hidden workforce of land — decomposers, mycorrhizae and a mostly uncultured majority.

Familiarity 48

Nitrogen cycle

How microbes move nitrogen between air, soil, water and food — plus the industrial shortcut that feeds billions.

Familiarity 40

Change & defence

Mutation and variants

Populations of genomes, not cartoon villains — RNA viruses copy sloppily, and public-health names track clusters that spread.

Familiarity 92

Antibiotic resistance

A shared drug budget under selection in hospitals, farms and wastewater — stewardship, not a lab manual.

Familiarity 85

Vaccines and immunity

Antibodies, memory cells and community arithmetic — conceptual, not a prescription and not an anti-vaccine tract.

Familiarity 94

Biofilms

Surface cities of microbes — plaque and catheters explain persistence, without a grow-your-own kit.

Familiarity 38

Hygiene and balance

Clean water saves lives; missing old microbial partners is a separate, still-debated immune story.

Familiarity 70

Horizontal gene transfer

Sideways DNA traffic — conjugation, transduction, transformation as names and history, not protocols.

Familiarity 45

Encounters

Influenza

A winter respiratory virus of drift and rare shift — surveillance and vaccines, not a cartoon villain.

Familiarity 93

Tuberculosis

An airborne bacillus of latency and long care — programmes and air, not a drug recipe.

Familiarity 70

Escherichia coli

Usually a gut resident; a minority of STEC pathotypes drive foodborne headlines.

Familiarity 82

Staphylococcus aureus

A common skin neighbor and a resistance story called MRSA — not scare porn.

Familiarity 78

Norovirus

A very-low-dose gut virus of schools and ships — soap and bleach surfaces, not alcohol-gel faith.

Familiarity 80

Helicobacter pylori

A gastric spiral that rewrote the ulcer textbook — Nobel 2005, Korea's high historic prevalence, no recipes.

Familiarity 68