About microscopic forms of life, including Bacteria, Archea,
protozoans, algae and fungi. Topics relating to viruses, viroids
and prions also belong here. Viruses are tiny geometric
structures that can only reproduce inside a living cell. They
range in size from 20 to 250 nanometers (one nanometer is one
billionth of a meter). Outside of a living cell, a virus is
dormant, but once inside, it takes over the resources of the
host cell and begins the production of more virus particles.
Viruses are more similar to mechanized bits of information, or
robots, than to animal life. Bacteria are one-celled living
organisms. The average bacterium is 1,000 nanometers long. (If a
bacterium were my size, a typical virus particle would look like
a tiny mouse-robot. If an average virus were my size, a
bacterium would be the size of a dinosaur over ten stories tall.
Bacteria and viruses are not peers!) All bacteria are surrounded
by a cell wall. They can reproduce independently, and inhabit
virtually every environment on eart