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A major handicap of all animal cells is their inability to synthesize their own food. Energy rich substances (food) must be absorbed or ingested into the animal cell in order to extract its chemical energy for metabolic uses.
50 000 of the cells in your body will die and be replaced with new cells, all while you have been reading this sentence!
On average, every square centimetre of your skin contains about 60 cm of nerve fibres, 200 nerve cells, 20 sweat pores, 500 000 cells and 50 cm of blood vessels.
The cells in your skin act as a "freshness seal" against bacteria. Some bacteria and spores that land on your skin die due to the natural bacterial flora found on your skin. If your body didn't produce these substances you would wake up in the morning with a layer of mould growing on your skin!
Crying and sneezing are good for you. The cells that produce your tears and mucus also secrete an enzyme that breaks down the cell walls of many of the bacteria with which you come in contact.
Unlike viruses, bacteria can be characterized as truly living cells, with all the characteristics that we attribute to a recognizable life form.
Although lacking distinct nuclear structures (common to the cells of "higher" organisms such as plants and animals), bacteria are able to reproduce successfully and transfer genetic information from one generation to the next.
Bacteria are used to make many of the dairy products you enjoy, including yogurt, cheese, and milk.
There are more bacterial cells in your body than there are human body cells. Dead or weakened bacteria and virus are used for making helpful vaccines.
Birds and other animals are common sources of pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria such as Salmonellaand Campylobacter.
Campylobacter is actually a group of bacteria that can create illness in humans and is a common cause of a malady frequently called "food poisoning".
Bacteria are the cause of diseases such as tetanus. Many bacterial diseases can be treated with specialized molecular compounds, known collectively as antibiotics.
By breaking down dead organic matter like trees and other plants, bacteria help to make the nutrients available again to other living organisms.
Scientists estimate that bacteria produce nearly half the oxygen found in the atmosphere.
Some types of bacteria are used to break down oil after ecologically damaging oil spills.
Helpful bacteria are used to purify water at swage treatment plants.
Some bacteria help our bodies with digestion and to produce needed vitamins. These bacteria also help us by destroying pathogenic bacteria that invade our bodies.
The air is full of bacteria. Some bacteria spend their whole lives in the atmosphere, reproducing and growing in the clouds above our heads.
Bacteria love to live where the living is easy. Anything with dead or decaying matter is a great home for bacteria. We humans have millions of bacteria living in and on our bodies including our skin, our mouths, our intestines, and our stomachs.
Only six (6) species of plants – wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava – make up more than 80% of all food grown worldwide.
Of over 5000 known edible plants, only about 150 are cultivated for human consumption.
All animal life on Earth is solar powered by plants! Green plants convert energy from sunlight into chemical potential energy stored in carbohydrate molecules.
Plant cells are extremely effective at removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
When you take a breath, you can thank a plant for the oxygen in the air.
Viruses come in many shapes, but in general rods and spheres are common.
Viruses are extremely versatile and are entirely parasitic, which means they cannot reproduce without invading a host organism.
Human diseases caused by the viral invasion of our body cells include measles, polio, and influenza (the flu). Many viruses can be spread from person to person, such as the chicken-pox virus, while others, like the West Nile virus need a carrier (vector) such as the mosquito.
Antibiotics cannot combat viral infections.
In a dormant state, viruses resemble inorganic crystals more than they resemble living cells.
Viruses cannot reproduce themselves; they must ""hijack" a host cell in order to reproduce. Viruses use the reproductive ability of the host cell to make copies of themselves.
The best health protection against pathogenic (disease causing) viruses is your body's immune system.
Vaccines (like the annual "flu vaccine") teach your body's immune system to recognize and attack the flu virus should you become exposed.
Many viruses maintain their genetic information in DNA, just like bacteria, plant and animal cells, while other viruses have only RNA.
Simple RNA viruses may have begun their existence as "rogue" segments of genetic code that have adapted to a parasitic existence.
Outside a living cell, a virus is called a "virion".
Researchers at NRC are identifying the genetic properties of canola seeds with the aim of producing plants having higher levels of valuable oils, proteins, micronutrients, and other superior agronomic traits.
NRC conducts research into diseases of the body at the cellular level, including diseases which affect the neurons (nerve cells).
NRC's "Crops for Enhanced Human Health" program aims to improve and develop plants that produce natural health products as well as to produce pharmaceutical products in plants.
Teams of NRC scientists are working to understand the genetic code of agriculturally important plants and animals to help protect our vital food stocks against bacterial and viral infections.
NRC scientists are investigating the effects of bacteria and viruses on Canada's food stocks in order to develop methods of protecting our food supply from catastrophic destruction diseases.
NRC develops innovative medical devises for the non-invasive diagnosis of diseases, then works with industry partners to commercialize these devises.
By looking at how viruses interact with brain cells NRC scientists hope to find ways to use viruses to develop better vaccines.