Germy Science: The Sick Truth about Getting Sick (and Staying Healthy)
Wash Your Hands You can't tell by looking but the book you're holding is covered in germs But don't be alarmed Compared to your skin these pages are an oasis of sterility Unless it's a copy that you're reading in a doctor's waiting room In which case ewwww gross it's DEFINITELY covered in germs And now your fingers are too No need to panic Just don't touch your face until you've washed your hands By the time you finish reading this book you'll know why Because you're about to go on an amazing journey into the world of germs life forms so tiny that even though they've changed the course of human history we didn't even know they existed until just a few hundred years ago So get ready to become a master of microbes
Contents Germs Are Everywhere How Germs Were Discovered How Germs Make Us Sick and How Our Bodies Protect Us Germs That Changed History The Future of Germs Glossary Index Further Reading
Germs Are Everywhere You can't avoid germs They're everywhere in the air the soil the water your classroom your bedroom and even on this book They are all over you too on your skin in your mouth ears and nose inside your guts and yes in your bum Nobody knows for sure how many germs live in us and on us but the best guess is that it's somewhere between 100 trillion and 200 trillion per person That's more than the number of drops of water in 100,000 Olympic swimming pools But germs are so tiny that they are invisible to us unless we're looking through a microscope See this red dot It can hold about the same number of germs as the biggest stadium in the world can hold people Even though they're too small to be seen germs make their presence known If your nose has ever been filled with snot because you had a cold or you wish it were filled with snot so you couldn't smell someone's bad breath you've had a close encounter with germs
Hello Germs Germs get a bad rap because some of them can make us sick or even kill us But they aren't all bad If you've ever enjoyed some cheese or yogurt and then digested it along with all your other food you've experienced germs firsthand Germs do many things both helpful and harmful depending on the type of germ and where it is Some can turn milk sour and make our stomach ache or cause ear infections pimples chicken pox and cavities But other germs help us absorb vitamins make soil fertile for growing food and fight off other microbes that would make us ill Without germs you might never get sick but you also wouldn't live to enjoy your good health for very long because you literally can't survive without them So say hello to these tiny but influential inhabitants of our bodies and our world MILK
