With their microscopic size, bacteria are everywhere^[1] and can perform feats that are unachievable for beings like us. In recent times, we have shown you some truly extraordinary microorganisms, such as bacteria that eat radioactive waste. However, there are certain species of these little creatures with abilities that we could say are true superpowers.

Now, we will show you ten types of bacteria with powers that you would expect to see in a superhero comic book instead of in real life. If this information inspires any film studio to make a blockbuster movie of superhero bacteria, we strongly recommend that you ask for scientists’ permission first.

10 Caulobacter Crescentus
(The Super-Adhesive Bacteria)

If a gecko attaches to a surface with its legs, it would take hundreds of kilograms of force to just “unstick” it from there. However, even that does not compare to what the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus can do. As if it were a bacterial version of Spider-Man, C. crescentus has an adhesion force seven times stronger than that of geckos and is three to four times more adhesive than commercial superglue.

C. crescentus lives in any wet environment and in any type of water, be it fresh water, salt water, or even tap water. The microbe moves with the help of an appendage called a flagellum until finding a place to live. Then, one end of C. crescentus attaches to the surface in question, after which the bacterium is anchored to it through thin structures called pili. When C. crescentus is finally in position, it secretes a sugary adhesive substance that sticks the creature to the surface immediately.

The results of scientific tests have shown that the “superglue” of C. crescentus has an adhesive force of about five tons per square inch. In other words, a small patch of this substance would be enough to lift an elephant or several cars off the ground.^[2] Since C. crescentus move in places where there is not much to eat, it is believed that these bacteria also use their superglue to pick up nutrients. Evidently, scientists see the practical potential of such a sticky substance, whose uses could range from surgical adhesives to durable construction materials.

9 Magnetotactic Bacteria
(Living Magnets)

A truly amazing power would be to control magnetism. Perceiving nearby magnetic fields, manipulating metal objects, and moving just by taking advantage of the Earth’s magnetic field sounds like something great but, unfortunately, far superior to human capabilities. Nevertheless, that does not mean that other living beings cannot do it, and in fact, some bacteria already have these fascinating abilities. Meet magnetotactic bacteria, the living magnets.

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are microorganisms capable of accumulating iron oxide molecules and putting them together to form small “pebbles” called magnetosomes. These magnetic granules are 100,000 times smaller than a grain of rice, and an MTB stores many of them inside. In this way, the little inner magnets allow MTBs to feel the magnetic field of the Earth and thus move toward the South Pole or the North Pole, depending on where there is more food. But that is just the beginning.

As MTBs usually live in swamps and similar environments with little oxygen, the microbes must move using their flagella until finding a suitable place. But sometimes, the sediment is too dense to move through in that way, so the MTB uses its magnetosomes to gain thrust with the Earth’s magnetic field.^[3] MTBs could also be true superheroes. To eliminate dangerous bacteria from the human body, scientists have learned to fill these microorganisms with magnetosomes and then kill them using something called “magnetic heat.” MTBs could provide such magnetosomes and thus help eliminate infectious viruses in large quantities.

8 Thiomargarita Namibiensis
(The Little Giant)

Among the superheroes in Marvel comics (and movies), there are some characters that use a certain substance to grow up to the size of a multistory building. While, at the moment, no human is known to have such an ability, some types of bacteria already have the superpower of growing in size at will. And here we will see the largest species of all.

Thiomargarita namibiensis is considered the largest bacterium in the world, three million times larger than average bacteria. Discovered in 1997 on the coasts of Namibia, this microbe is capable of reaching a size of up to 0.75 millimeters, making it visible even to the naked eye. Heide Schulz, the biologist who discovered the bacterium, said in a report: “In terms of size, a T. namibiensis cell is to an Escherichia coli cell what a blue whale is compared to a newly born mouse.”

The extreme size of T. namibiensis is due to its feeding mechanism. The bacterium uses nitrate and sulfide to obtain energy. And since nitrate concentrations are low in the place where it lives, T. namibiensis tries to store as much nitrate as possible inside its own body. That way, 98 percent of its volume is nitrate stored inside an organelle in the center of the bacterium.

In appearance, the T. namibiensis looks white due to the multiple sulfur granules that the creature also stores inside. It is worth noting that since T. namibiensis feeds on sulfur, the populations of these bacteria detoxify seawater, allowing the proliferation of marine life. These microorganisms usually join together by a layer of mucus, forming what looks like a long string of white spheres. This is what gives the bacterium its name, since Thiomargarita namibiensis means “Sulfur Pearl of Namibia.”^[4]

7 Modified Escherichia Coli
(The Living Computers)

Humans have always tried to find the best way to store information. Many millennia ago, we started sharing our ideas through paintings inside caves. Then came books and computers, and we recently learned that diamonds are great data storage devices. But then bacteria entered the game when scientists managed to insert information into them. That’s right: Some microbes can transport text, videos, and images in their bodies, turning them into living computers.

It happens that when bacteria destroy an enemy virus, they store small parts of the virus’s DNA inside their own bodies. In this way, microbes learn to recognize similar threats in the future. Taking advantage of that mechanism, scientists from Harvard University first cultivated a population of 600,000 Escherichia coli bacteria. Then, they coded an image of a human hand and a short video of a galloping horse into a DNA strand.^[5] And finally, the E. coli received electric shocks so that they activated their defense mechanism and thus absorbed the man-made DNA.

To test if the method worked, the scientists sequenced the new genetic code of each bacterium. Then they ran the sequence in a computer program that read it and transformed it into images. Incredibly, the resulting pictures were practically the same as the original files, with just a few pixels of difference. Although this technique sounds difficult, current genetic sequencing technologies make it relatively easy to perform the process.

Anyway, this is not the first time that E. coli microorganisms have carried our information. In 2003, US scientists introduced DNA written with the lyrics of a song inside E. coli bacteria. And in 2011, Canadian writer Christian Bok inserted a poem into the DNA of a single E. coli , which then glowed red and began to “write” its own poem. If you wonder what the potential of this ability is, a gram of DNA can contain 455 exabytes (455 billion gigabytes) of data, about a quarter of all of humankind’s information. So in the not-too-distant future, we could be using modified E. coli populations as our personal microcomputers.

6 Shewanella Oneidensis
(Electric Microbes)

Electrogenic bacteria are microorganisms that can naturally generate electricity through extracellular transference of electrons. To date, hundreds of species of electrogenic bacteria have been found, and they are everywhere, from the bottom of a lake to inside our own bodies. However, a particular bacterium of this type has unique characteristics, which have made it a great object of scientific study.

Shewanella oneidensis is a bacterium discovered in the lakes of New York.^[6] While most life-forms (including us) use oxygen to get energy, S. oneidensis “breathes” metal molecules such as manganese, lead, and iron, among others. For this, many of these bacteria join together and attach to the surface of rocks containing metals. Then, they release long filaments called nanowires, which they use to connect directly to the metal. In that way, the microbes transfer electrons from inside their bodies to metal molecules, and this flow of electrical current is what keeps them alive. Sometimes, S. oneidensis bacteria do the opposite and extract electrons from such metals, so they literally live on electricity.

It is presumed that the nanowires of S. oneidensis allow it to conduct electricity over long distances, as well as to supply electrons to other nearby bacteria. The ability of S. oneidensis to generate electricity has aroused the interest of the scientific community. For example, some researchers are studying the potential of the bacterium to treat wastewater. Meanwhile, NASA took samples of these creatures to space to see if they can be used in the construction of future life-support systems.

5 Pseudomonas Syringae
(The Ice-Maker)

Just like Marvel’s Iceman, the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae can freeze water by touching it, even at temperatures above the natural freezing point. P. syringae bacteria live mostly in farm crops, as well as in many other types of plants. To feed themselves, these little creatures freeze the tissue of plants in order to easily access their nutrients, which, in turn, can cause great damage to agriculture. In addition, P. syringae have also been found in snowy environments from Europe to Antarctica. But how do these bacteria freeze things?

In 2016, scientists learned that P. syringae uses certain proteins in its outer membrane to make ice. First, these proteins modify the order of water molecules, forcing them to form a more solid structure like that of ice. And to make this process easier, the proteins also extract heat from the water, causing it to freeze regardless of the surrounding temperature.

Pure water does not freeze until it reaches around – 40 degrees Celsius (–40 °F). However, a single droplet of P. syringae bacteria can instantly freeze 600 milliliters (20.3 fluid ounces) of such water cooled to only – 7 degrees Celsius (19.4 °F). It is also believed that these microbes contribute to the formation of rain and snow when the wind drags them into the atmosphere.^[7] So we can say that our good P. syringae is both an ice-maker and a rain-maker. Due to their extraordinary capabilities, P. syringae bacteria are currently used to make snow in ski resorts, although they could even be used in biotechnological processes.

4 Modified Klebsiella Planticola
(World Destroyer)

The superpower of this bacterium gives it the ability to potentially erase all plant life on Earth, so Klebsiella planticola earns the prize for the supervillain of this list. Klebsiella bacteria are present in the roots of almost every plant on Earth. These creatures are responsible for decomposing dead plants, thus cleaning the soil of organic waste.

German scientists took a sample of K. planticola bacteria and genetically modified them so that, by decomposing plants, they produced fertilizer and ethanol at the same time. A bacterium of this type would be easy to sell for agricultural and industrial uses, so in the early 1990s, it was planned to test K. planticola in the fields.

However, in order to test its effectiveness, a team at Oregon State University conducted a laboratory experiment with a sample of fertile, sown soil. One part of the soil was filled with the original K. planticola, while the modified bacteria were placed in the other part. The results showed that although the seeds germinated in both soils, all plants in the section of the modified microbes were dead after a week.^[8]

The modified K. planticola produced 17 times more alcohol in the soil than plants could tolerate. In addition, plants use fungi to feed on soil nutrients, but the ethanol-producing bacteria increased the presence of worms that eat those fungi. So the plants not only died of poisoning but also of starvation.

Adding to its evil characteristics, it was confirmed that the modified K. planticola bacterium was able to survive in soil for a long time, unlike other modified bacteria. In the end, the “killer” K. planticola was not commercialized. But it was contended (albeit disputed) that had it been released in the fields, this bacterium would have ended up annihilating all plant life on a continental scale.

3 Aquifex
(The Microbe From Hell)

In the early 1980s, scientists found the first known hyperthermophilic organisms, microscopic beings capable of living and reproducing at temperatures close to 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F). But it happens that most of these microorganisms belong to the Archaea domain, a group distinct from bacteria and discovered in the late 1970s. However, some hyperthermophilic bacteria have also been discovered, and their abilities make them more durable than most life on Earth.

The genus Aquifex comprises bacteria capable of reproducing in underwater thermal vents and hot springs, at temperatures up to 95 degrees Celsius (203 °F). Just to get an idea, a human body submerged in that water would begin to boil until dissolving in a matter of hours. And even so, Aquifex can live in such an environment without difficulty, even at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F), which makes them the most heat-resistant bacteria of all.

As if that were not enough, Aquifex are also aerobic—that is, they can breathe oxygen. Although these microbes only tolerate low oxygen concentrations, they are among the few known aerobic hyperthermophilic bacteria. If the environment does not have oxygen, Aquifex can also breathe nitrogen. But the most impressive ability of these microorganisms is that they produce water as a byproduct while breathing.^[9] For this reason, the bacteria earned the name Aquifex, which means “water-maker.”

2 Ancient Bacteria

If everything goes well, humans can expect to live a little over 70 years on average. Some reptiles can live close to 200 years, while a few trees have lived around 5,000 years. But all that is just a blink (figurative, of course) for the oldest bacteria in the world. Indeed, in 2007, researchers discovered bacteria more than half a million years old, which were still alive.

A team of scientists from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) obtained samples of these bacteria in layers of ice in Canada, Russia, and Antarctica. It is estimated that the microbes have been alive for about 600,000 years, and when scientists looked at their DNA, they were surprised to see that it was almost intact. This is something extremely unusual for creatures of that age, since DNA starts to break down after some time. To survive for millennia, many microorganisms enter a state of almost total inactivity, but even so, their DNA will continue to suffer great damage.

The key to the long life of these old bacteria lies in their amazing ability to self-repair their DNA. Instead of becoming lethargic and suspending its functions to survive, this particular creature keeps a small part of its metabolism active. In this way, the body of the bacterium will keep constantly repairing its own DNA while waiting for the environment to become more favorable for reproduction.

There have been other reports of even older living bacteria, such as 250-million-year-old bacteria trapped in salt crystals. However, these reports remain unconfirmed, and it is speculated that the samples were contaminated with modern microbes while in the laboratory. By contrast, the 600,000-year-old bacteria are authentic, since the researchers made sure to avoid any form of contamination during the tests.^[10]

1 Staphylococcus Epidermidis
(The Anti-Cancer Fighter)

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death around the world. In 2018, almost ten million people died due to this type of disease, and the annual number of cancer cases is expected to reach 23.6 million by 2030. Well, that could change, because scientists have discovered a method to radically fight cancer. And you guessed right, the method involves bacteria.

In February 2018, a group of researchers from the University of California discovered that the bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis has anti-cancer powers. This microbe is commonly found in healthy human skin. Upon careful analysis, scientists noted that S. epidermidis produces a chemical compound similar to a certain DNA component. When the researchers tested the substance (called 6-HAP) in the laboratory, they realized that it stopped DNA production. Specifically, the chemical prevented cancer cells from multiplying further. However, 6-HAP had no effect on normal cells, since certain enzymes within them deactivated the chemical.^[11]

The scientists injected 6-HAP into a group of mice, while another group was left unaffected. The animals were then exposed to high doses of UV radiation. The results showed that although all mice developed cancer, the tumors of the mice with 6-HAP were 60 percent smaller than those of the normal mice. The researchers proceeded to repeat the experiment, this time by spreading S. epidermidis bacteria on the backs of mice instead of injecting them. Even in that way, the mice covered with the microbes developed only one tumor after the radiation dose, while the normal mice had up to six of them. Although more research is still needed on these creatures, it is believed that S. epidermidis could be used in the future to prevent multiple cancers—besides skin cancer.

Economy student, passionate about Graphic Design, an avid enthusiast of the art of writing.

Parasites, bacteria, and viruses have been the scourge of humanity as long as we have been here, but disease has reshaped our history and influenced our evolution. Parasites helped give our immune systems the boost it needed to get up and running, and the humble bacterium has helped dictate the form this planet has taken. Sometimes, it seems that we humans are simply playthings in their hands, but they haven’t just been capricious forces that toss us around like rag dolls. These microorganisms have also done incredible things to help humanity.

10The Viruses We Carried Out Of Africa Helped Us Survive

Thanks to the science of viral molecular genetics, we now know quite a bit about the bugs that infected us along our evolutionary path, and we have found that these hitchhikers have done quite a bit to help us along the way. For example, it was the evolutionary pressure they placed upon our immune system that made it as robust as it is today. Additionally, viruses may have played a role in the loss of specific receptors that we once possessed on the surface of our cells that infectious agents could latch onto and use to cause disease. By ridding the human body of this source of disease, viruses created a safer environment for themselves, benefiting everybody involved.

But they may have also played a role in ensuring that, among competing hominid species, it was Homo sapiens that came out on top. While our species was developing, disease and parasites encouraged genetic diversity and weeded out the unfit. Once the first Homo sapiens left the continent, they brought their infectious agencies and parasites with them. If you’ve read about North American and European smallpox, you know how this goes.

While it wouldn’t have been the only factor, viral parasites would spread to other hominids like Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals), who wouldn’t have had any previous exposure to the new bugs and possessed a nasal structure that was less efficient at filtering air and keeping new viruses at bay. They would have devastated other hominid species, because the bugs were primed to live in similar environments, but the hominids were not primed to receive them. Models have shown that if Neanderthals had a mortality rate only 2 percent higher than humans, it would have been sufficient to cause their extinction after 1,000 years of competition. While disease was doubtless not the only factor, it would have certainly played a large role.

Most models of human disease evolution claim that they mainly evolved during the Neolithic era, after man moved out of Africa and populations increased, so there is some evidence of this selective viral pressure. Many of these early viruses have even been so successful that their genes have literally become a part of our DNA. For example, the human genome has been found to contain genes from the borna virus that were gained about 40 million years ago. In fact, scientists have isolated about 100,000 elements of human DNA that have come from viruses, mostly within what is called our “junk DNA.” The viruses that make up the majority of our junk DNA are called endogenous retroviruses, and they are so much a part of us that a scientist recently brought one “back to life” and even infected hamsters and cats with it.

9Modern-Day Medical Uses Of Leeches And Maggots

For thousands of years, the European leech (Hirudo medicinalis) was used in medicine for bloodletting purposes, treating a wide range of disorders from hemorrhoids to ear infections. The practice goes so far back in time that an Egyptian painting from 1500 B.C. depicts their use. While some nations have never stopped using them, the practice fell out of favor in the Western world with the knowledge of bacteria and subsequent focus on the germ theory for medical treatment.

In the 1970s and 1980s, though, leeches made a comeback. Cosmetic and reconstructive surgeons found that they were an effective method for draining blood from swollen faces, black eyes, limbs, and digits. They are also helpful for reattaching small body parts like ears and flaps of skin, because they draw away blood that could clot and interrupt the healing process. Leeches have saved people from amputations and may even relieve the pain of osteoarthritis. Even veterinarians sometimes use them.

Maggots, on the other hand, are nature’s clean-up crew. They’re great for eating away dead or infected flesh, revealing the healthy tissue below in a process called debridement. They have also been found to be an effective treatment for ulcers, gangrene, skin cancer, and burns, among other things.

Maggots and leeches, as gross as they may be, are so effective that the FDA classified them as the first “live medical items” in 2010, paving the way for an entire industry called biotherapy. An organization called Biotherapeutics Education and Research Foundation (BTERF) has even sprung up to raise awareness of the new uses for these old critters, and there are several companies that sell them.

8Parasites And Our Immune Systems May Have Co-Evolved To Protect Us From Allergies

Researchers studying the effects of gastrointestinal parasites have come up with an astonishing theory: After parasites first colonized our gastrointestinal systems, they evolved over millions of years the ability to suppress our immune systems. At the same time, our own bodies evolved to partially compensate for the effect.

The astonishing part, and what this means for human health, is that once parasites and harmless microorganisms present in water and soil have been largely removed from their natural environment inside of us in developed nations through the use of modern medicine, our immune systems actually overcompensate for their loss, leading to allergies and even increased chances for asthma and eczema.

This “old friends” hypothesis (sometimes referred to as the “hygiene hypothesis,” though it’s actually more of a complementary theory) has gained more support in recent years as we identify new ways microorganisms have helped us survive over the eons. Clinical trials have been conducted using worms to test against multiple sclerosis, IBD, and allergies.

The main proponent of the old friends hypothesis is Graham A.W. Rook of University College London. He first proposed it in 2003, and since then, it has also been proposed as a possible cause of some forms of stress and depression.

Some people have taken the old friends hypothesis to its ultimate logical conclusion that if removing our parasites from society has led to health problems, we should put them back. In 2008, University of Wisconsin professor of neurology John Fleming conducted a clinical study in which he infected multiple sclerosis patients with parasitic worms to test their effectiveness against the disease. Over a period of three months, patients who had an average of 6.6 active lesions around their brain’s nerve cells were reduced to an average of two. When the trial was over, the number of lesions shot back up to 5.8 within two months. In earlier trials, the parasites appeared to have positive effects upon ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease as well.

Parasite therapy is still in the experimental phases, however, and probably has negative effects that outweigh the positive ones. As of now, the FDA has classified the worms as biological products that cannot be sold until proven safe. Only one species, Trichuris suis, has been approved for testing under Investigational New Drug (IND) status.

7Virotherapy

One of the most exciting and promising branches of medicine in recent decades is virotherapy, a biotechnology technique to reprogram viruses to treat disease. In 2005, researchers at UCLA announced that they had turned one of humanity’s deadliest enemies into a cancer-killer when they reprogrammed a modified strain of HIV to hunt down and destroy cancer cells. Around the same time, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota modified the measles virus to do the same.

The technique is similar to the one used to breed genetically engineered plants, in that a virus is used as a gene-delivery vehicle. It has long been recognized as the most efficient means of gene transfer. This system is used for the production of useful proteins in gene therapy and has great potential for the treatment of immunological disorders such as hepatitis and HIV.

Viruses have been known to have the potential to treat cancer since the 1950s, but the advent of chemotherapy slowed its progress. Today, virotherapy is proving to be extremely effective against tumors without harming the healthy cells around it. Clinical trials of oncolytic virotheraphy have shown low toxicity and promising signs of efficacy. In 2013, a drug called talimogene laherparepvec (TVEC) became the first drug based on a tumor-killing virus to succeed in late-stage testing.

One of the biggest challenges facing researchers is how to deliver the virus where it will do the most good before the body recognizes it as an intruder and mounts a defense. Current research is looking into finding natural tumor-targeting “carriers,” cells that can deliver the virus without either the cell or the virus losing its normal biological functions.

6Using Viruses To Cure Bacterial Infections

Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically attack bacteria. First recognized by Frederick Twort in 1915 and Felix d’Herelle two years later, they have been used to study many aspects of viruses since the 1930s. They are especially common in soil, where many species of bacteria make their home.

Because phages disrupt the metabolism of bacteria and destroy them, it has been long recognized that they could play a role in treating a wide range of bacterial diseases. Because of the innovation of antiobiotics, though, phage therapy was mostly shelved until the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria generated a renewed interest in the field.

An individual phage species is generally only effective against a small range of bacteria or even one specific species (its primary host species), which was originally seen as a disadvantage. As we have learned more about the beneficial aspects of our natural flora, though, it has come to be recognized as the advantage that it is. Unlike antibiotics, which tend to kill bacteria indiscriminately, bacteriophages can attack the disease-causing organisms without harming any other bacteria living inside us.

While bacteria can develop resistance to both antibiotics and phages, it only takes a few weeks rather than a few years to develop new strains of phages. Phages can also have an easier time penetrating the body and locating their target, and once the target bacterium is destroyed, they stop reproducing and soon die out.

5Vaccines

Beginning in the 1790s, when Edward Jenner developed the world’s first vaccine against smallpox using a less virulent strain called cowpox to inoculate patients, vaccines have saved countless millions of lives. Since then, several different types of vaccines have been developed. Attenuated or “live” vaccines use live viruses that have been weakened or altered so that they do not cause illness, while inactivated or “killed” vaccines contain dead microorganisms or toxins that are usually used against bacterial infections. Some vaccines—including subunit and conjugate vaccines, as well as recombinant and genetically engineered vaccines—only use a segment of the infectious agent.

When a vaccine is injected, the pathogen goes to work, but there is not enough of it to replicate at the rate it needs to in order to take hold. The body mounts an immune response, killing the pathogen or breaking down the toxin responsible for disease. The body’s immune system now knows how to fight the disease and will “remember” if it comes across it again. In other words, scientists have figured out how to get a pathogen to help its own target defend itself against it. They have even taken the first steps toward developing vaccines for several forms of cancer, with three vaccines approved by the FDA for the hepatitis B virus (which causes liver cancer), human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 (which cause cervical cancers), and metastatic prostate cancer in some men.

Thanks to vaccines, several diseases have been driven to virtual extinction. Smallpox is the most famous example, but polio, though not totally eradicated, comes in at a close second. Several other diseases might be gone by now if vaccines weren’t so hard to come by in the underdeveloped nations that still struggle with them. Things are getting worse instead of better, with diseases coming in from an unexpected source: affluent, educated Westerners who should know better.

Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination movement is making a comeback in regions where these diseases were once under control. Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, approximately 500,000 people per year were infected in the US, 500 of whom—mostly children—ended up dead. By 1983, there were only 1,497 cases reported, and after a brief resurgence in the ’80s and ’90s, reported cases were down to just 37 in 2004. After the anti-vaccination movement began gaining traction, 118 cases were reported in the US alone in 2011. That number keeps growing, fed by travelers coming in from areas with higher rates and finding less resistance. Whooping cough, once thought to be gone forever in the US, is also on the rise.

4Bacterial Waste Breakdown

Some of the smallest and simplest of creatures on Earth play some of the most important roles in safeguarding all of life. Bacteria have perhaps the most important role of all: breaking down and recycling waste.

The dead remains of animals and plants, along with the excrement of all organisms, contain vital nutrients and stored energy. Without a way to reclaim these nutrients, though, the available sources would be quickly depleted. Luckily, many bacterial species feed upon these energy sources, breaking them down to their smallest molecules and returning them to the soil, where they reenter the food chain.

As helpful as this process already is, humans have found many ways to exploit it for a variety of even more advantages. Bacteria are used in sewage treatment, industrial waste management, and the clean-up of oil spills, leaked pharmaceuticals, and wastewater. They have also been useful in the development of aqua-farming, algae control, and waterless toilets. Researchers and engineers are currently looking into their potential use in the production of environmentally friendly bioplastics, glues, and building materials. They may even be used to break down plastic waste.

3We Would Quickly Die Without Our Gut Bacteria

Poorly understood until recently (and there is still quite a bit of research to be done), the natural bacteria that lives in our guts works with our immune system to drive out pathogens, produce vitamin K, stimulate peristalsis, and perhaps most importantly, digest our food. Without our gut bacteria, we wouldn’t be able to perform any of these functions, and we would quickly die.

The more we learn about beneficial strains of gut bacteria, the more we can incorporate that knowledge into healthy living. After it was determined that certain gut bacteria can play a role in obesity, probiotics became all the rage. Probiotics are the bacteria that reside in fermented foods and are now sold as supplements. Bacteria like some species of bifidobacteria, found in most yogurts, can create a highly acidic environment in which less-beneficial microorganisms cannot survive. Fatty foods and stress can also play a role in the health of our stomach flora, killing beneficial bacteria while favoring the more harmful kind that cause gas, bloating, and “leaky gut syndrome.”

In a huge breakthrough in the study of our gut bacteria and what they do, a team of Chinese and Danish researchers have recently developed a new way to identify these microorganisms using DNA sequence data. They identified over 500 species of benign bacteria and 800 new species of viruses that could live off them, providing hope for new ways to treat diseases associated with them, such as diabetes, obesity, and asthma.

2Skin Bacteria Serve As Our First Line Of Immune System Defense

The moment you emerged from your mother’s womb, you were set upon. They ambushed you in mere moments and colonized every inch of your skin, and they have been with you ever since. They are prokaryotes and other bacteria, and without the evolutionary partnership humans forged with them millions of years ago, you would have been dead soon after being born.

One of the most common skin bacteria is Staphlococcus epidermis, a bug that we now know plays a role in fighting off Leishmania major, the cause of a nasty disease called leishmaniasis that results in skin boils and open sores that don’t heal. The good bug triggers an immune response called IL-1 that the body can’t produce on its own, making Staphlococcus a necessary part of the human body, as vital to our existence as any organ.

Prokaryotes, which also colonize the digestive tract, cover every exterior surface on the skin. Along with the rest of our beneficial skin microbiota, they became a part of us when they started competing against less-benevolent microorganisms for real estate. Along with the immune cells in our skin, they protect us against both pathogenic bacteria and opportunistic fungi that try to invade. This allows our bodies to spend less energy defending our exteriors and focus more on things like fighting viruses and precancerous cells.

While there is still much to learn before we can really use this knowledge in our health regimens, we are already looking to a future that involves the purposeful use of skin bacteria. A start-up based in Massachusetts called AOBiome, for example, has created a body spray made of live cultured chemoautotrophic bacteria called Nitrosomonas. They claim that their spray can “replenish healthy skin bacteria” and even replace showering, as the bacteria live off the ammonia in our sweat.

1Life As We Know It Wouldn’t Be Here Without Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are possibly the oldest still-living species on Earth, with fossils dating back 3.5 billion years. They are unicellular bacteria that grow in colonies, and if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be here, and neither would nearly every other form of life.

Cyanobacteria were the world’s first photosynthesizers. They used energy from the sun along with chemicals in primordial oceans and inert nitrogen in the atmosphere to make their food. As a waste product, they generated oxygen, a poison to virtually every other form of life at that time and the cause of early mass extinction events. Over a period of roughly 300 million years, all this oxygen generation helped form the atmosphere as we know it, during the Archaean and Proterozoic eras.

That wasn’t the only way this bacteria kick-started life as we know it. Sometime during the Proterozoic or early Cambrian era, they formed a symbiotic relationship with certain eukaryote cells, making food for the cell in return for a stable environment to call home. These were the first plants, as well as the origin of eukaryotic mitochondria, which is essential for animal life. This truly titanic event is now known as endosymbiosis.

While several forms of cyanobacteria are toxic, a species named Spirulina was an important food source for the Aztecs and eaten regularly by many Asian nations. Today, it is often sold in powder or tablet form as a health food supplement.

Lance LeClaire is a freelance artist and writer. He writes on subjects ranging from science and skepticism to religious history and issues to unexplained mysteries and historical oddities, among other subjects. You can look him up on Facebook.

You are not going to make it through life without getting sick. It happens to the best of us. What kind of sickness you end up with depends on a number of factors. Some illnesses are far easier to get over than others. Some are pretty much death sentences the moment you’re diagnosed.

The cause of your illness can also vary greatly. Did you eat something that had gone bad? Chances are you picked up some kind of bacteria. Did you get sick after going swimming in some polluted water? You might have got a parasite. Did somebody sneeze on your bagel? You might have a virus. And let’s not forget that, if there’s mold growing in your house, you could be infected with a deadly kind of fungus. What a fun group!

In an ideal world, you’ll just avoid every kind of dangerous bacteria, parasite, fungi, and virus. But the world is rarely ideal. So what’s the most dangerous one of them all? If an evil wizard trapped you in a room with four doors, which would be the one that you’d be most likely to survive a walk-through? Let’s look!

The Basics

In general, a virus is more dangerous than a bacterium. Take that with a grain of salts, of course, because circumstances will vary. The virus that causes a cold is probably not going to be as dangerous to you as botulism.

Bacteria are single cells, and they’re able to survive on their own. Most bacteria are harmless, some are even helpful. Your gut has 100 trillion bacteria in it right now to help you digest your food. Only a small number of them are actually going to cause you any harm. Bacteria can be 10 to 100 times larger than viruses, or about one to three microns in length. Salmonella is a common bacterium.

On the other hand, viruses don’t do well on their own. They have a parasitic nature and require a host to help them survive. They need your body to reproduce and proliferate the cost of which is you getting sick and maybe dying. Viruses may be as small as 20 to 200 nanometers in diameter. 

Parasites, part of a group called eukaryotes (meaning their cells have a nucleus and internal structures) are larger than viruses and often bacteria as well. Some parasites can be whole, living organisms, like a tapeworm. 

Fungi are most often found in the form of spores and molds. Athlete’s foot is a kind of fungal infection.

Bacteria Breakdown

A single bacterium is a single cell. It is one complete little microorganism all on its own and can live outside of a human body. In fact, many bacteria happily reproduce in the soil, in rotten food, on your skin and anywhere else the conditions are right.

The dangerous kinds of bacteria can affect your body in a number of ways.  Many dangerous bacteria are able to produce toxins which can be deadly and are what lead to serious infections in the body. The toxins can paralyze the cells in your body or even destroy them, disrupting normal cell function and causing serious damage. Others can reproduce so prolifically that they crowd out your normal, healthy cells.

Thanks to antibiotics, medicine has been able to save countless lives by treating bacterial infections. Antibiotics can either kill or slow the growth of bacteria. They do this by either destroying the bacteria cell wall or limiting its ability to grow and reproduce.

Because bacteria are able to reproduce very quickly, some every 20 to 30 minutes, they’ve also been able to mutate quickly. This has given rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Over time, the bacteria that has survived has mutated to develop various defense mechanisms against antibiotics. Some may produce enzymes that destroy antibiotics, and others have ways of removing the antibiotic before it can reach its target.

Some more common bacteria, like salmonella, gonorrhea, and campylobacter, have developed strains that are resistant to antibiotics. This means that any infection that may have been considered easily treatable could become far more dangerous and deadly as it evolves. 

Because of the ever-changing nature of bacteria, it’s hard to choose the “worst” of them all. In 2024, the World Health Organization issued a list of dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria and there were 15 chosen. Near the top of the list were bacteria that cause tuberculosis, called mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is potentially the deadliest bacterium in the world and is responsible for 1.7 million deaths per year. 

Virus Breakdown

Viruses are not cells or living organisms on their own. Instead, a virus is a small amount of genetic material that is encased in protein. A virus can only work if it’s inside a living organism. On its own, it’s nothing, it has no function or purpose. 

Once inside a host organism, the virus uses the cells of that living organism to replicate. This process can end up destroying cells and leading to infections. Because viruses are so small, they can even infect bacteria and fungi. You can breathe them in or contract them through things like mosquitoes in ways that bacterial, parasitic, and fungal infections can’t because they are larger.

While a host body will try to produce antibodies to fight off a virus, if they get overwhelmed, and the virus can replicate faster than the host organism can fight it off, that’s when sickness takes over and the potential outcome is death. The viruses need your cells to reproduce because they don’t have the material or energy to do it on their own. This process destroys your cells.

Your body will fight back by raising the temperature. That’s what a fever is. Viruses tend to need a very delicate balance of temperature to survive and even a few degrees too warm can kill them. Unfortunately, a prolonged fever is dangerous for you as well. 

In addition, your immune system will try to use antibodies to fight the virus if it can. It needs to be exposed to a pathogen before it can make antibodies, however. If the virus is something you have never experienced, you will have no antibodies at first and your immune system may not be able to fight back. 

A virus like Ebola is extremely deadly. Up to 90% of people who contract Ebola will die from it. While that’s terrifying, it also ends up being one of Ebola’s weaknesses. Because it kills so quickly, the disease is not able to spread as well as others that don’t have such a high, swift mortality rate. Outbreaks, once isolated, tend to burn themselves out before they spread too far from the source. 

Judging the danger of a particular virus can be tricky. While Ebola kills up to 90% of people who contract it, it’s not widespread. However, HIV has spread all over the globe and is arguably one of the deadliest diseases in history. As many as 32 million people have died from HIV. That said, new treatments have greatly reduced the overall mortality rate, and the odds of dying from HIV now, with treatment, are very low.

In 1918, a flu pandemic killed somewhere between 50 million and 100 million people. 

Rabies is another virus that can seem quite common but is exceedingly dangerous. Without proper treatment, the mortality rate for humans infected with rabies is nearly 100%.

Viruses we have mostly eradicated were far deadlier than what most modern people can understand. Smallpox, for instance, killed about 300 million people. 

Fungi Breakdown

Thanks to pop culture, most people are familiar with just how terrifying a fungal infection can be. What first gained attention as quirky articles on the internet were then made into a worldwide phenomenon in the game and subsequent TV show called The Last of Us.

In The Last Of Us, much of mankind has been wiped out by a fungal cordyceps infection. Cordyceps is a real thing that has been seen infecting far less complex organisms like ants. The fungus grows inside of them, literally breaks through their bodies, and forces them to keep moving like zombies even when they should be dead. Fascinating stuff, but not applicable to humans. Our immune systems are vastly more complex than an insect’s and, as a result, we are immune. Unless it mutates one day. 

While cordyceps won’t kill you anytime soon, it doesn’t mean other fungi aren’t a danger. In 2023, the CDC warned about the rapid spread of Candida Auris. The fungus is resistant to most antifungal medications and was putting people in the hospital on ventilators. The infection can spread into your heart, lungs, blood, eyes, bones and organs.

Another fungus, cryptococcus neoformans, has a mortality rate between 41% and 61% and is especially dangerous to those with an already compromised immune system. The fungus, a kind of yeast, is found all over the world in soil. It can cause a kind of meningitis.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a kind of mold and has a mortality rate as high as 90%. You can find it almost anywhere that leaves fall on the ground and start to rot. Estimates suggest all of us inhale between 10 and 100 Aspergillus spores every day. 

The problem with Aspergillus and other fungal infections is they receive less attention and fewer resources than bacteria and viruses. Also, fungi are quick to adapt to medications and become resistant. Nevertheless, as many as 1.7 million people per year die from fungal infections, which is more than malaria and twice the number who die of breast cancer. There are over 150 million severe infections reported that are damaging but not fatal, as well.

Parasite Breakdown

Parasites are, hands down, the creepiest and most disturbing things that can infect you. Even if they aren’t as deadly as other infections, they tend to be more off-putting if for no other reason than many of them are big. These are living organisms that take up residence inside of you. The way they get inside of you can be just as disturbing as the fact they are inside you.

Take Strongyloides, for instance. This parasite transmits through feces but can live in soil for weeks. If you walk barefoot across it, they will burrow through the flesh of your foot. They’ll ride your bloodstream all the way to your lungs and then cause you to cough. Coughing brings them to your mouth where they get swallowed into your gut, right where they want to be. They can live for years in there and may turn deadly depending on the medications you take.

Giardia, a small parasite, is transmitted most often through feces or things contaminated with it. You can get it on your hands or in the food you eat and ingest it without realizing, as it’s a small, one-celled organism. 

Tapeworms, which can infect you if you accidentally ingest their eggs in undercooked meats, or from meat handled unhygienically, can grow to be up to 12 feet long in your gut, but some have been reported to be over 50 feet. They can live for 30 years.

Brain-eating amoebas have been contracted by people swimming in still, warm bodies of water like ponds in the US. They enter through the nose and infect the nervous system with a near 100% mortality rate. 

Parasitic infections can lead to sepsis among numerous other symptoms. One of the most well known and deadly parasites is the malaria parasite, transmitted by mosquitoes, which caused over 600,000 deaths in 2022. 

As disgusting as parasites can be, many of them will not actually kill you. It’s not in a parasite’s interest to kill its host, after all. It’s estimated about one in seven people in the world currently have an intestinal parasite. Some estimates boost that to about half the world’s population. 

So Which is Worst?

You can’t make a strong claim that any one of these deadly pathogens is better than another. There is far too much variety among each category to conclude one is preferable to another. In addition, there are so many mitigating factors that can alter just how dangerous an infection from one of these pathogens could be.

It’s much easier to state that you really don’t want to get an infection of any kind, be it parasitic, fungal, viral or bacterial. None of these are going to be a good time for you, and all should be avoided or treated quickly if they ever come up.

Humans share the Earth with a plethora of different bacteria, distant relatives of ours who inhabit a variety of different environments and perform countless functions—some of which we welcome, and some of which we fight against. It could be said, however, that it is the bacteria who are nice enough to share the Earth with us, considering there are roughly 5×10^30 bacteria on the planet—forming a total mass greater than that of all plants and animals combined.

We tend to think of them existing only in places where other life forms can be found, such as in our gut, the kitchen, forests, and ponds. However, plenty of bacteria require no such environment and can be found in some truly obscure and surprising places on this planet and beyond.

10Inside Solid Rock

It was long believed that one of the requirements for life to exist was sunlight. Even organisms not directly exposed to the Sun (such as those residing in your gut) would consume organic matter that at one point was synthesized with the help of sunlight.

Recently, however, this dogma has been called into question. A team of scientists investigating a South African gold mine has discovered bacteria over 1.5 miles below the ground that seem to subsist purely off of radioactive waste.

The uranium, thorium, and potassium in the surrounding rock formation seem to have just the right amount of energy to break down water molecules, which leads to the production of hydrogen peroxide and sulfates. The radiation breaks down the water molecules into two atoms of hydrogen and a single atom of oxygen, which combine with other water molecules to form hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide then reacts with pyrite (fool’s gold) to produce sulfate ions, which the bacteria feast upon with great relish.

And these lonely microbes seem to be in no rush to leave their rocky fortress. Whereas much of the bacteria we encounter on a daily basis—such as E. coli—divides almost daily, this rock-dwelling bacteria is estimated to divide between once a year and once every 300 years.

9The Cleanest Place On Earth: Nasa ‘Clean Rooms’

If you have ever given your kitchen or bathroom a thorough cleaning, you doubtless have walked away with a feeling of satisfaction, knowing that any living microbes that once were there have been eviscerated. Now imagine you work for NASA, and your job is to make the “clean rooms” (where everyone is required to walk around in triple-layer, sterilized body suits) as clean as possible. And NASA wants them really clean.

These rooms are what “hospital operating rooms are to patients,” says Mike Weiss, Hubble’s technical deputy program manager at Goddard. “Surgeons wear sterile gowns, gloves and masks during surgery, and operating rooms must be kept free of germs to keep patients healthy. In our case, [the spacecraft] is the patient.”

Anyone who enters must pass through a series of “lobbies,” the first of which contains special adhesive to remove dirt particles from shoes, the second of which provides a high-pressure air shower, and the third of which forces you to cover yourself from head to toe in protective clothing.

This painstaking procedure made it all the more upsetting when an entirely new genus of bacteria was discovered in not one, but two NASA clean rooms. Named Tersicoccus phoenicis (“Tersi” is Latin for clean), this bacterium has earned a reputation for outwitting the most intense industrial cleaners and sterilization techniques.

Scientists at NASA make sure to keep samples of this resilient creature on hand to compare it to any potential bacteria brought back from space.

8Sheets Of Ice

When we think of ice, we inevitably think of cold, which brings with it very little movement and therefore very little life. The freezer is where we put food for long-term storage not because we necessarily want to make more room in the refrigerator but because we want to slow down the various chemical processes that will cause the food to spoil.

This is why it is all the more surprising that large populations of bacteria have found a long-term home in some of the world’s largest glaciers—with some bacterial strains lasting for millions of years.

The Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica contain the oldest known ice on Earth and are home to microbes that have lived there for millions of years. It is estimated that the entire microbial cell population encased in the ice sheets of Antarctica outnumber the human population of Earth more than 10,000 times over.

And now that the Earth is warming and the ice is melting, these little guys may soon be liberated into the ocean, where they will have to adapt to an unfamiliar but perhaps more hospitable environment.

7Boiling Water

Every boy scout knows that if you come across a natural source of water, the water must be boiled before consumption to remove any harmful bacteria. Be careful, however, the next time you take solace in this technique, since some bacteria, such as Clostridium botulinum, can survive in boiling water.

Clostridium botulinum, which is responsible for botulism (a serious paralytic condition caused by a nerve toxin that can enter the body either through food intake or an open wound), prefers environments with relatively little oxygen, which is why it can grow and live in the most unnerving places, such as in your camp kettle or along the inside of a sealed can.

Since a botulism diagnosis often comes with aggressive antibody treatment and a trip to the hospital, it is best to use bleach, sodium hydroxide, and extreme temperatures (around 120 degrees Celsius) when trying to eradicate this pesky beast.

6The Lowest Place On Earth

Any ocean enthusiast knows that the Mariana Trench is the most mysterious place in the ocean and perhaps the planet. Located to the east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea, the Mariana Trench is the deepest part of any ocean on Earth, with a maximum depth of roughly 11,000 meters. The search for new forms of life at the bottom of this black, mostly inaccessible cavern has been a major goal for oceanographers for years, and now, in the Challenger Deep (the lowest point of the Mariana Trench), researchers have found heterotrophic bacteria, which can sustain themselves in part from tiny bits of organic compounds found in particles that fall from high above.

Bacteria found in the ocean past the reach of sunlight (beginning around 100 meters below the surface) must break down compounds such as sulfur and ammonia for sustenance, which makes the presence of these heterotrophic bacteria all the more mysterious.

5The Upper Atmosphere

Usually, when we think of bacteria, we think of them living somewhere in the animal kingdom, coexisting with and in some cases feasting off of organic matter. This is not the case, however, when it comes to a large microbe population that was recently discovered in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Although there are no life forms in our atmosphere on which to feast, there is plenty of carbon, which provides these gravity-defying bacteria with sustenance, even at altitudes of six miles or more above sea level. In fact, bacteria may make up roughly 20 percent of the small particles in the upper atmosphere at any given time.

Although it is not entirely clear how these bacteria made the unlikely journey into the atmosphere, scientists believe that high winds and alternating atmospheric pressures drove the little critters into the heavens, much like the process by which salt and dirt arrive in the same place.

4Your Eyeball

Although it is common knowledge that the human body contains multitudes of bacteria (in fact, a human body contains more bacterial cells than human cells), we like to think of these friendly bacteria as residing peacefully in our gut—carrying out their end of a symbiotic relationship by aiding in the digestion of food, as well as producing chemicals that help us squeeze every last drop of energy out of what we consume.

What we do not like to think about, however, is that a more sinister type of bacterium resides on our eyeball, specifically the conjunctiva—a mucus membrane covering the sclera of the eyeball. The bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeaehas seem to have an affinity for the human eyeball, and although our tears do their best to keep these little critters at bay by dispatching enzymes such as lysozyme, these defenses are not enough to rid the eyeball of them completely.

And yes, these bacteria are the same ones responsible for the chlamydia and gonorrhea infections, respectively. Best to keep those eyes clean.

3Antarctica

If you are a seafood lover, you have inevitably fielded warnings about eating too much fish, due to a widespread fear that you may be ingesting too much mercury. A major culprit when it comes to mercury in fish may be a recently discovered strain of Antarctic bacteria. The bacterium, named Nitrospinia, seems to have an affinity for converting mercury to methylmercury, which is far more dangerous than mercury and has been known to cause developmental problems in children. After ingesting and converting the mercury into methylmercury, these pesky bacteria are consumed by a variety of different fish, which then end up on your dinner plate.

And since many of our most beloved fish dishes come from the Southern Ocean, this could be a major problem for seafood lovers, especially since more commercial fishermen are heading south to chase after depleting fish supplies.

2Your Glabela

The glabela, more commonly known as the smooth section of skin between your eyebrows and above the nose, may seem like an unlikely home for bacteria since it lacks significant protection from the environment. However, being exposed for all the world to see is no deterrent for an especially monstrous-looking bacteria named Demodex folliculorum (also known as eyelash mites), which spend their days roaming around your forehead in search of carbon-containing matter. While these and the more commonly known Propionibacteria bacteria are generally harmless, they can occasionally cause an infection that leads to acne vulgaris. So the next time you discover a pimple between your eyes, you can blame these little guys.

1The Dead Sea

Given its name, the Dead Sea is understandably one of the last places one would go in search of life. This would be misguided, however, since although the extraordinarily salty water of the Dead Sea is inhospitable to most forms of life, some bacteria have discovered a loophole: freshwater springs.

Just within the last decade, several new forms of life have been discovered at the bottom of the Dead Sea—bacterial life that has become accustomed to both extreme salinity and fresh water (a necessary prerequisite for living in the Dead Sea, since the salinity of the water fluctuates so rapidly).

These prokaryote bacteria cling to the rocks at the bottom of the Dead Sea, as giant underwater craters shoot fresh water and sulfides into the surrounding water—forming a thin white film and proving wrong the notion that bacteria can only either survive in fresh or salt water environments, not both.

Size really does not matter. Invisible specks of bacteria hold the power to put mankind out to the extinction pasture. In the peaceful meantime and plagues aside, scientists have a new love affair with the tiny organisms.

A lot of recent studies found that bacteria have a weird talent for producing clean energy, gold, and quantum mysteries. But that is not all. They turn up in disturbing places, do the unexpected, and are adaptable enough to merge with technology and live.

10 New Ocean Food Source

A 2018 study on deep-sea bacteria yielded unexpected surprises. Found in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), the critters lived about 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) down. At this depth, it was believed that the only food available came from whatever rained down on the seafloor—dead fish, plankton, and other organic matter.

Unlike what scientists found in the North Atlantic Ocean, bacteria in this part of the eastern Pacific Ocean were the main group that consumed this rain and not bottom-dwelling animals. The bacteria also absorbed vast amounts of carbon dioxide into their biomass using a process that scientists still don’t understand.

As surprising as that particular discovery was, the implications reached further than strange bodily functions. This biomass is likely food for deep-sea life where no additional sources were thought to exist.

Amazingly, this means that harmful CO₂ is removed and turned into sustenance. Calculations determined that the bacteria could run the entire region of the CCFZ and possibly recycle 200 million tons of CO₂ every year.^[1]

9 Source Of Clean Energy

Household sewage and wastewater from industrial plants are rich power sources. They contain the necessary organic compounds to produce clean energy. However, nobody could come up with an extraction method that was effective and inexpensive. Enter purple bacteria.

In 2018, the phototropic organisms, which draw energy from light, were used for the first time to recycle waste. Unlike water treatment plants, the bacteria worked with light, had zero carbon emissions, and were also affordable.

This environmentally friendly biorefinery recovers close to 100 percent of carbon, no matter the type of organic waste. Additionally, the process creates hydrogen gas, perfect for electricity needs.

The secret was the bacteria’s metabolism. First, they use organic molecules and not CO₂ and H₂O. That makes organic waste a perfect source to “feed” on. Carbon, nitrogen, and electrons are all extracted for photosynthesis.

Byproducts varied, but proteins, hydrogen gas, and biodegradable polyester have all been produced. Researchers have also found a way to speed up the feeding cycle by sending an electrical current through the purple bacteria, which are organisms filled with metabolic electrons.^[2]

8 The Titanic‘s Doom

The infamous RMS Titanic sank in 1912. She remained missing for over 70 years until the wreck was found 530 kilometers (329 mi) southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

In 2010, an expedition returned to the surface with a disheartening bug. While investigating the Titanic, researchers scooped up a new species of bacteria. Halomonas titanicae was named in honor of the ship, an ironic move as the bacteria was consuming the Titanic.

H. titanicae loves rust. That is basically what the ship is doing, rusting everywhere and providing the tiny metal wreckers the buffet of a lifetime.

The fragile icon rests on the seafloor, over 3.8 kilometers (2.4 mi) below the surface, and cannot be brought back up. The rapid disintegration also makes preservation an impossible task.

The plus side is that the new bacteria’s insatiable appetite for rust can be used to dispose of unwanted ships and ocean structures like oil rigs as well as to develop antibacterial coatings for working equipment. Sadly, scientists estimate that the Titanic could be gone in about 20 years.^[3]

7 Brain Bacteria

The brain is considered to be a sterile organ. Doctors know that when bacteria peek from between the folds and neurons, it is a sign of disease. In 2018, scientists examined 34 brain samples. The original purpose was to compare the brains of schizophrenia patients to those of people who had never suffered from the condition.

Instead, the high-resolution images kept showing mysterious rods everywhere. This accidental discovery turned out to be bacteria. If the organisms were somehow native to the brain, it would burn the book on neurology.

Researchers had to make sure that the brains were healthy and subsequently found no sign of bacterial disease. This left the possibility of postmortem contamination. Tests followed on uncontaminated mouse brains, which revealed that bacteria clustered in the same regions as those found in the human samples.^[4]

DNA analysis provided a solid clue—the microbes were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, types normally found in the human gut. The gut-brain link is well-known to science, but never before has such a direct connection been made. Even so, the purpose of the brain bacteria remains a riddle.

6 Epic Nose Battles

Inside the noses of mice live bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. Mostly, the bugs are harmless, but they can trigger fatal pneumonia and meningitis (an action that also kills the bacteria).

To understand why S. pneumoniae would commit suicide, scientists examined the nasal passages of mice and found that this bacterium was not the only species that loved the damp environment. Sometimes, Haemophilus influenzae tries to muscle in. The two species hate each other, and the moment they meet, a war breaks out.

H. influenzae hijacks the host’s immune system to attack its opponent with white blood cells. This strategy is so brilliant that S. pneumoniae is sometimes completely removed from the nose. However, when the latter fights back, things go wrong for the host.

S. pneumoniae has a sugary shell, an armor that comes in 90 varieties. The stronger types can fight off white blood cells, invade the body’s immune system and tissues, and ultimately cause disease. In all probability, the human nose has similar rivalries, meaning that most illnesses are not attacks on the person but a nasty side effect of bacteria trying to destroy each other.^[5]

5 Electric Mushrooms

In 2018, a New Jersey laboratory wanted to create a renewable energy source. Scientists turned their attention to the common button mushroom, a plentiful fungus. Other ingredients included cyanobacteria and carbon atoms. The latter formed electrodes made of thin sheets of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs).

The mushrooms, organisms, and atoms were not chosen at random. The bacteria create photosynthetic energy, and GNRs conduct electrical currents. The mushrooms provided a natural environment for the bacteria, including humidity and nutrients, something no artificial surface could match. To create this symbiotic relationship, 3-D printing was used to embed the GNRs and the bacteria on the mushroom.^[6]

The experiment was successful. The different patterns of the carbon atoms and the bacteria allowed the two to interact as a stable network. When light was shone on the mushroom, the organisms worked up an electric current which was conducted by the GNRs into wires waiting to harvest the electricity.

At the moment, the mushrooms can only produce a weak current. Future adjustments, however, promise bionic fungi that are powerful, plentiful, and a green source of energy.

4 Increasing Risk Of Plague

The bubonic plague was so devastating that history would end up calling it the Black Death. Across the 14th and 15th centuries, the deadly bacteria killed up to 200 million people in Europe.

Today, scholars are increasingly worried that global warming could cause another outbreak. This is not as crazy as it sounds. Permafrost harbors bacteria indefinitely, including some of the worst diseases on the planet. When the frozen pathogens thaw, they are released into the environment with deadly effect.

This became a tragic reality in 2016 when melting ice released anthrax in Siberia. The event infected over 40 people, killed a child, and wiped out 1,500 reindeer. The Paris Agreement, an international environmental initiative, has vowed to keep the rising of the world’s temperature under 1.5 Celsius degrees (2.7 °F). However, some scientists believe that the agreement cannot be honored.

The implications are frightening. When the Black Plague began in the 1340s, the world’s heat experienced a 1.5-Celsius-degree (2.7 °F) rise which caused the lethal Yersinia pestis bacterium to bloom. Should this happen again, the softening permafrost could release global pandemics—and not just the Black Death.^[7]

3 Living Tattoos

In 2017, MIT chose bacterial cells for a 3-D printing project. It led to one of the most intriguing inventions ever to involve bacteria—living tattoos. The result resembled a stick-on image of a tree or the branched lines of electronic pathways.

Bacterial cells were chosen because they were tougher than those of mammals and could survive the printing process. They also happened to be compatible with hydrogels, one of the things required to make the tattoo.

First, the bacteria were engineered to turn into different fluorescent colors. The next step was to develop an ink that contained hydrogel, the cells, and nutrients to keep them alive. The fluid was delicate enough to be used in high-resolution printing of 0.03 millimeters. The researchers drew the tree pattern on elastomer. Then the sheet was placed on a volunteer’s skin that had previously been treated with chemicals.^[8]

As they had been engineered to do, the bacteria lit up and turned visible once they came into contact with the compounds. A very distant hope is to one day produce wearable patches that release medicine (like glucose) into a patient’s body over a period of time.

2 They Produce Solid Gold

Cupriavidus metallidurans is a bizarre species. It snacks on toxic metals and poops gold. Discovered in 2009, scientists had to wait until 2018 to solve this alchemy riddle.

Unlike most other biological organisms, C. metallidurans thrives in soil packed with poisonous heavy metals. Two membranes surround the bacteria. In between exists a space called the periplasm, and it acts like a detox chamber.

Usually, the periplasm stores excess copper. This metal is needed for the bacteria’s feeding process, but too much can kill it. The recent study found that a special enzyme (CupA) safely relegated unnecessary copper into the periplasm.

Gold is a worse danger. When the bacteria come into contact with gold ions, an unstable version of the precious metal, they risk serious damage. The ions can disrupt the copper detox system.

Remarkably, researchers found that the bacteria developed a second enzyme (CopA) to deal with this. CopA turns the ions into a stable metal inside the periplasm. Once the latter is stuffed, the outer membrane tears and tiny gold nuggets are released, sometimes as big as sand grains.^[9]

1 They Touch The Quantum World

In 2018, scientists wanted to know where the quantum world ended and the “real” world began. Quantum physics governs infinitesimally tiny things like particles. The rest, like humans and bacteria, belong to the other side.

For the most part, it is believed that quantum effects reduce to nothing as they cross over into the larger world. To prove that this was not the case, researchers had another look at an experiment done in 2016 at the University of Sheffield.

During the test, bacteria were placed inside a room of mirrors and subjected to a special light frequency. Only a few organisms showed quantum effects by displaying a limited connection between their photosynthetic molecules and the light’s electrons. This state is known as quantum coupling.

According to the 2018 review, the bacteria might have done vastly better than the Sheffield study suggested. New experiments yielded positive results for entanglement, a major quantum effect never before seen in living creatures.^[10]

Entanglement is the mysterious ability shared by two entities when they link up their states despite being separated by incredible distances. An interesting possibility is that bacteria have evolved to blend with the quantum world to reap unknown benefits.

Scientists are at it again. This time, they’re creating new viruses and bacteria in their laboratories. Scientists usually prefer altering already-existing or extinct bacteria and viruses to produce new strains that will defeat our immunity, vaccines, and drugs.

Sometimes, they prefer creating new viruses and bacteria from scratch. However, these strains are not always dangerous to humans even though they could be deadly to animals like mice and even to other bacteria.

SEE ALSO: 10 Viruses That Actually Help Humankind

10 Horsepox

Scientists at the University of Alberta have created horsepox, a lethal virus closely related to the equally deadly smallpox. Unlike smallpox, horsepox does not affect humans and is only fatal to horses. The scientists created the virus during a six-month study sponsored by pharmaceutical company Tonix. The researchers purchased DNA pieces via mail order and arranged them to form the virus. The entire project was not expensive. The DNA pieces used to create the virus cost just $100,000.

The study caused a dilemma at the time it was revealed. Other scientists were concerned that governments or even terrorists could use the knowledge to create smallpox virus for biological weapons. A smallpox epidemic could become deadly for us today. We no longer get vaccinated for it because we eradicated the disease in 1980.

The researchers clarified that they created the virus because they wanted to develop improved smallpox vaccines. Tonix later revealed that it had produced a smallpox vaccine with the horsepox virus. Other scientists say that the researchers could have extracted horsepox from wild horse populations instead of creating it from scratch. Tonix said they would have done just that if they had known they had natural access to the virus. However, lead researcher David Evans said they recreated the virus because Tonix would have been unable to commercialize the horsepox virus taken from the wild.^[1]

9 Black Death

Between 1347 and 1351, millions of Europeans were afflicted with a mysterious disease that killed over 50 million people. Today, we know this disease is the Black Death, which is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Although the Black Death is still around, it is not as potent as it used to be.

A few years ago, researchers from several schools, including the University of Tubingen in Germany and McMaster University in Canada, recreated the deadly bacteria from DNA samples extracted from the teeth of a victim who died during the plague. They got only 30 milligrams of the bacteria from the teeth, but that was enough to recreate it.

As a result, researchers confirmed the original bacteria’s relationship to the Black Death around today. Some scientists had claimed that the bacteria were of different strains, but they are now confirmed to be the same. The one we have around today only became less deadly after it mutated.^[2]

8 Polio

Like their counterparts at the University of Alberta, scientists at the State University of New York have created a deadly artificial virus by buying DNA pieces via mail order. This time, it is polio, and it is as potent as the natural one. Mice exposed to the artificial polio got sick just as they would have if exposed to natural polio.

The laboratory-created polio was controversial among scientists. The researchers who produced it had taken its code from databases available to almost anybody. Other researchers fear that people with ulterior motives could develop their own artificial polio, which is much easier to make than other dangerous viruses like smallpox.

Smallpox’s genetic code is 185,000 letters long while polio’s is just 7,741 letters long. Although we are already at the brink of eradicating polio, scientists fear that we will still need to be vaccinated against the disease because it could be recreated.^[3]

7 Mousepox

A few years ago, researchers at the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) produced a deadly mutated strain of mousepox by mistake. Mousepox is another lethal virus that belongs to the same family as horsepox and smallpox.

The researchers were trying to develop birth control for mice at the time that they mistakenly created the virus. They inserted a gene that promoted the creation of interleukin 4 (IL-4) into mousepox, which they injected into some mice. The mice were vaccinated and were not supposed to be harmed by the mousepox.

Instead of making the mice infertile as researchers had expected, the weakened virus turned lethal and destroyed the immune systems of the mice, killing them in nine days. The new mousepox was so dangerous that it was resistant to vaccination. Half of the other vaccinated mice exposed to the mutated mousepox also died.

The researchers were so scared by their invention that they did not want to publish their findings. They even met with the Australian military to confirm if it was safe to publish.^[4] Scientists fear that human smallpox could also mutate and become deadlier if injected with IL-4. However, they are unsure because no one has tried it yet. We know it’s only a matter of time before some scientist does.

6 SARS 2.0

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a lethal virus. More than 700 people were killed during a SARS epidemic that infected 8,000 people in 29 countries between 2002 and 2003. Now, scientists have made it deadlier.

The new mutant SARS virus was created by a group of researchers led by Dr. Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina. They call it SARS 2.0. The researchers developed the virus by adding some protein to the naturally occurring SARS. SARS 2.0 is immune to vaccines and treatments used to cure the naturally occurring SARS virus.^[5]

The team said that the research was necessary because the natural SARS virus could mutate and become immune to our vaccines. By creating a deadlier and mutated virus, we could develop stronger vaccines that will save us from a more lethal SARS epidemic. That is, if the natural SARS ever mutates.

However, other scientists are concerned because the SARS 2.0 that is supposed to save us from a deadly SARS epidemic could start that epidemic if it ever escapes from the lab.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Mysterious Viruses

5 MERS-Rabies Virus Hybrid

Scientists have created a MERS-rabies hybrid virus. The idea is to use the virus to develop a vaccine that will protect us from both viruses. Rabies is a deadly disease that can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected dogs that usually have the virus in their saliva.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a new virus that appeared in Saudi Arabia a few years ago. It is closely related to SARS and is spread from bats to camels and, finally, to humans. MERS infected 1,800 people at the time of its first epidemic and killed over 630. Its fatality rate is around 35 percent.

As we mentioned in the previous entry, SARS infected over 8,000 people during a 2003 epidemic but killed just over 700. Although SARS caused more deaths in absolute terms, it has a lower fatality rate than MERS. Only about 10 percent of SARS victims died. And for now, we do not have any vaccine for MERS.

To create the MERS-rabies hybrid, researchers took some proteins from the MERS virus and added it to rabies. They used the new virus to develop a new vaccine that made mice resistant to rabies and MERS. They believe that the vaccine can also be used for humans and camels at risk of getting MERS.^[6]

4 Phi-X174

Phi-X174 is another artificial virus we have produced in laboratories. It was created by researchers at the Institute of Biological Energy Alternatives in Rockville, Maryland. The researchers modeled the artificial virus after the natural phiX virus. PhiX is a bacteriophage, a category of viruses that infect and kill bacteria. However, it has no effect on humans.^[7]

The researchers created the artificial virus in 14 days, yet it resembles the natural virus so much that it is impossible to tell them apart. The researchers hope that the new virus is the first step in developing mutant and artificial bacteria that can be used for the benefit of man.

3 Unnamed Virus

Researchers from University College London and the National Physical Laboratory have created an unnamed virus that kills bacteria and behaves like a real virus. Like phi-X174, it is a bacteriophage but deadlier.

The unnamed virus attacks any bacteria around it. Within seconds, it breaks into smaller parts that attach and create holes on the bodies of the bacteria. The holes quickly become larger, forcing the bacteria to leak their contents. The bacteria die soon after.

Despite its scary potency, the unnamed virus is not dangerous to humans and did not attack human cells during tests. However, it could enter human cells just like natural viruses. Researchers hope the results will be used to treat and study bacterial diseases in humans. The virus could also be used to alter the human gene.^[8]

2 Bird Flu

Some Dutch scientists have created a mutant and deadlier version of the already-lethal bird flu. Natural bird flu is not easily transmitted among humans. However, the researchers altered it so that it could be. To test their new virus, the researchers exposed some ferrets to it. Ferrets were chosen because they had similar bird flu symptoms to humans.

Ten generations later, the already-changed virus mutated again and became airborne. Natural bird flu is not an airborne disease. The study was controversial in the science community. It became even more so when the Dutch researchers attempted to publish the process to create the deadly virus.^[9]

Although scientists fear that terrorists could use the study to produce a deadly biological weapon that could kill half the people in the world, the researchers involved say that the study was necessary to allow us prepare for a mutated bird flu epidemic.

1 H1N1 Virus

In 1918, the world witnessed the arrival of a deadly flu epidemic. This was the H1N1 virus. By the time it was over, up to 100 million people were dead. The flu caused blood to seep into the lungs of victims. They released blood from their noses and mouths before drowning in the blood inside their lungs.

The flu returned in 2009. But it was less lethal even though it was mutated and deadlier than it should have been. Scientist Yoshihiro Kawaoka took samples of the mutated strain that caused the 2009 epidemic and used it to create a deadlier strain that was resistant to vaccines. This strain was similar to the one that caused the 1918 epidemic.^[10]

Kawaoka was not planning to produce a more lethal version of the flu at the time. He only wanted to create the original version of the flu so that he could study how it mutated and was able to bypass our immunity. The deadly virus is stored in a lab and could become fatal if ever released.

There may be monsters in the closet after all – only this kind was purchased at the store. Everyday items sitting on the shelf are designed to make life easier. In some cases, they can do the opposite. Cosmetic treatments can cause comas and burns inside the body, while dental products come with paralysis and blue people. Then there were the exploding scooters and the earbuds that caused bacteria to eat a woman’s skull.

SEE ALSO: 10 Ridiculous Health Myths (Science Says Are Actually True)

9 Mouthwash – Higher Blood Pressure

When it comes to mouthwash, most people receive their education from television.^[1] The lesson is short. Just swirl the advertised product and all your bacterial worries are over. In 2019, scientists became concerned. Not all bacteria are bandits. Was there a drawback to wiping out all dental microorganisms? They found an alarming side-effect.

First, they grilled volunteers for half an hour on a treadmill. Directly afterward, the participants gargled with either a real mouthwash or a placebo. The results were undeniable. Many people exercise for healthier blood pressure to avoid heart disease and strokes. Indeed, the placebo group showed a reduction but the volunteers who used the mouthwash experienced a drastic interference with this benefit.

The reason is nitric oxide. Produced during exercise, it opens the blood vessels which reduces blood pressure. When it degrades, a waste product called nitrate is formed. Only recently did researchers discover that certain oral bacteria turns the nitrate into nitrite. The latter is crucial to boost the production of the beneficial nitric oxide. The 2019 study proved that there are goobers in our mouths that should stay there. When they are missing, the resulting lack of nitrite prevents blood vessels from opening. As a result, no amount of exercising could lower one’s blood pressure.

8 Acid Reflux Syrup – Werewolf Syndrome

Imagine the following scenario.^[2] Your infant has acid reflux and as a dutiful parent, you spoon the syrup prescribed by a doctor into the kid. Pretty soon, you have a hairy baby. Like, abnormally hairy. This happened in Spain to 17 shocked families in 2019. One infant blinked at his parents with adult eyebrows and swathes of hair on his face and limbs.

Abnormal hair growth is called hypertrichosis or “Werewolf Syndrome.” The congenital condition is diagnosed at birth. However, these children had an acquired form. In other words, they were born without the condition but something triggered it when they were around two years old. Spain’s health regulators identified a common factor – the children all used a syrup for acid reflux. It contained omeprazole but this medication had never caused excessive hair growth in anyone.

Inspectors visited the factory that sold the drug. Their shipment originally came from India but tests proved that the omeprazole was perfect. Things went wrong when the factory decided to divide the bulk shipment and re-sell the smaller batches. The idea was to stick the omeprazole label on bottles. For some reason, the labels ended up on another product at the factory, one that contained minoxidil. This compound fights baldness by encouraging hair growth. Luckily, the children are expected to shed the extra fuzz as they grow older.

7 Hoverboards – Explosions And Burns

The future has arrived.^[3] Human beings are finally zipping around on hoverboards. To be fair, these devices do not fly. They resemble high-tech skateboards driven forward by an internal power source. The hoverboards became a hot item during the 2015 and 2016 holiday season. However, it became a little too hot. The battery pack’s design was faulty, causing several machines to overheat during a ride. There were fires. Some hoverboards exploded.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received 99 complaints about the two-wheeled scooters, 18 of which involved injuries. Most were burns to the limbs and neck. Needless to say, this was not what people expected after paying up to $900 for a hoverboard. The unpredictable devices were banned from campuses, railroads, and airlines due to safety concerns. Not only riders were injured but the fiery scooters also damaged property. At the end of the day, over 500,000 hoverboards were recalled from ten companies.

6 Denture Cream – Permanent Paralysis

In 2017, a man from the United Kingdom experienced symptoms that became increasingly frightening.^[4] First, there was a tingling in his fingers. However, soon numbness and pain weakened his legs so much that the 62-year-old had to depend on a cane to move around. Within six months, he was housebound.

Doctors suspected a neurological problem and wheeled the patient through an MRI scan. Indeed, they found he was suffering from copper deficiency myelopathy. This was weird. The body needs very little copper. For someone to become so deficient that they develop a brain condition, something peculiar had to be going on.

The reason turned out to be an overdose of zinc. Too much zinc is known to block copper absorption. The source of the zinc turned out to be the man’s dental cream. He admitted to applying too much cream because of ill-fitting dentures. For the past fifteen years, the patient used up to four tubes a week. The cream was immediately removed from his dental regimen and he was treated with copper supplements. Sadly, the nerve damage was irreversible and the man remains wheelchair-bound.

5 Acupuncture – Pierced Lungs

Acupuncture’s benefits are not uniformly verified by science.^[5] Even so, the practice remains a flourishing alternative for those looking for less invasive therapies. The craft is ancient but not flawless. For centuries, practitioners have known that a point called Gallbladder 21 was a tricky one. Incorrect manipulation of this spot could have dangerous consequences for the patient, including pierced lungs. Frighteningly, prospective clients are not always informed about the risks involved.

In 2019, a woman from New Zealand found this out the hard way. The 33-year-old had an arm injury that affected her breathing. The acupuncturist inserted a pair of needles into her Gallbladder 21, which, despite the name, is located in the shoulder region. As the needles went in, the woman experienced pain and became worried because the insertion felt too deep. The pins were left for 30 minutes, rotated and pulled out. Almost immediately, she felt uncomfortable. The woman told the acupuncturist that there was a strange sensation around her lungs. It felt airy and painful. She was told to go home and rest.

That night, her husband took her to the hospital where the woman received emergency care. Doctors diagnosed bilateral apical pneumothoraces. The condition is as scary as it sounds. The needles pierced the top of one lung, which later caused both organs to collapse. Punctured lungs are a common problem in acupuncture. A 2010 study identified Gallbladder 21 as the culprit behind 30 percent of such complications.

4 Vaginal Steaming – Second-Degree Burns

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow endorsed vaginal steaming and predictably, it turned into a trend.^[6] Said to cleanse the vagina, the technique is simple – just hover over a steaming bowl full of herbs. In 2019, a painful incident proved that celebrities can give really stupid advice. A Canadian woman was recently told she had a vaginal prolapse, a condition where pelvic organs slip out of their normal position. The 62-year-old was hopeful that the steaming remedy might help. Instead, she wound up in the emergency room with second-degree burns on her vaginal membranes and cervix.

The sad part is that the trend is bogus. Scientists found only risks and no benefits. Biologically, the vagina also cleans itself. It does not need to go through a herbal steaming, which incidentally also interferes with beneficial bacteria that safeguards the vagina. The woman’s prolapse was scheduled to be treated surgically but the procedure had to be delayed until she could recover from the burns.

3 Cotton Swabs – Skull-Eating Infection

A woman, identified only as Jasmine, visited a doctor because she could not hear properly.^[7] The physician gazed into the offending left ear and declared that she had an infection. Jasmine was prescribed antibiotics but the deafness remained.

In 2019, she cleaned her ears with cotton swabs. This was a daily habit but that night there was blood on the swabs. When the patient visited a specialist, she was given a serious dressing down about her swab habit. The specialist was probably still in shock. A CT scan had shown, in graphic detail, a horrifying skull infection caused by her ear-cleaning regimen. Cotton fibers had been collecting inside her ears for as long as five years and resulted in a bacterial infection. The microorganisms feasted on the bone behind her ear and were literally eating it away. As a result, the skull region was paper-thin.

The 37-year-old underwent a 5-hour operation to remove the corrupted tissue and rebuild her ear canal. Jasmine’s surgery managed to eradicate the infection but the hearing loss in her left ear was permanent.

2 Tooth Gel – Blue Blood

In 2019, a woman entered the emergency room of a Rhode Island hospital.^[8] “I’m blue,” she told the doctors. The 25-year-old was not being funny nor did she make a reference to depression. Her skin had a light blue tinge. The staff whipped out a syringe and pulled some blood, which turned out to be dark navy blue.

The diagnosis was methemoglobinemia. This condition occurs when there is a dangerous lack of oxygen in the blood due to an iron abnormality. The patient was already in the danger zone. Serious tissue damage can start when blood oxygen levels reach 70 percent. She was at 67 percent. The treatment was swift and successful. The patient was given a remedy that was aptly named – methylene blue. Two doses later and a night in hospital returned the woman to her pink self.

But what caused the Smurf look? When questioned, the patient said she had a toothache the night before. She applied copious amounts of a numbing medication that contained benzocaine. This freaky customer can influence the iron inside the blood. Benzocaine changes iron so much that the element can no longer bind to oxygen. When this bond severs, blood circulation becomes a problem and blood, skin, and nails turn blue.

1 Face Lotion – Coma

In 2019, a Sacramento woman followed her usual beauty routine.^[9] She reached for her favorite face cream, a brand that she had been using twice daily for years. This time something went horribly wrong. Her extremities went numb and she could not walk or talk properly. The 47-year-old was rushed to the emergency ward where she lapsed into a semi-comatose state. At first, she reacted to staff when they spoke to her but eventually the mother of five became unresponsive.

Blood tests identified the culprit. On average, everyone carries 5 micrograms of mercury per liter of blood. The patient had a staggering 2,630 micrograms per liter. Worse, it was methylmercury. Nobody could say with certainty if this dangerous type of mercury’s addition to the cream was accidental or homicidal. Mercury is often the ingredient that makes age and blemish lotions effective.

But this brand was a risky one. Imported from Mexico and sold informally to the public, the woman’s son admitted she loved the anti-wrinkle cream because it outperformed all pharmacy brands. Unfortunately, this the first such poisoning in the United States. Doctors do not have enough experience to say when or if she will ever wake up again.