Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Air is not that Gross



We all know that microbes practically live everywhere, and some of us occasionally wonder about the microbes we breathe in found in the atmosphere. Humans are naturally curious and with the surge of technology we are better able to answer our questions. In the past we thought that the air was rather clean, well microbe free for the most part. We couldn’t have been more wrong, recent discoveries and studies show that the air above our cities and blowing in from our coast is teaming with microbial organisms, and some of which are capable of some serious damage if not detected beforehand. The argument in the article I’m blogging about tonight is trying to persuade the reader to understand that, yes there are microbes in the air, and yes some of the microbes are dangerous and some microbes might be evidence of a bioattack, but we sure generally not be worried because there are far more microbes in the environment around us then just in the air.

 http://www.goductpro.com/images/microbes.gif

The Researchers performed tests over several cities and found that a lot of microbes found in soil and in the ocean made their way into to atmosphere. This is not that much a surprise though because microbes are picked up in the dirt that blows over from the Sahara Desert and from participation of the ocean surface. Majority of the microbes detected were harmless but occasionally the Researcher’s did pick up a few nasty bugs that have the capability of destroying plants and diminishing human health. The argument used a strong sense of ethos and pathos to convince the reader that there is no need to panic over microbes in the air. 

 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microbe-census-reveals-ai/

2 comments:

  1. Researching more and more about the connection of life and microbes. The more you go in depth; the more you find out that microbes can live anywhere imaginable. There is no way in escaping them. Knowing that even the most precious thing that aids our survival is also infested by microbes, one has to learn to live and love microbes. Your article explained how microbes were found in the air we thought was clean, is phenomenal. As you mentioned at the end of your article, eventually the microbes found in the ground would eventually get there. As the wind picks up all sorts of stuff and now shown to pick up microbes. Its interesting how those microbes in the air were shown to be harmless. It makes it easier to live in ease.

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  2. This article is really interesting! I think we've all been so exposed to the idea that the air is full of all kinds of microbes, which is true. It sounds like the not all of the microbes are bad ones. I really like articles that contradict what we already think we know about things. I think articles like this are great because they challenge some of the ideas that we all have become comfortable with. It shows how much more we have to learn about the world around us.

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