Travel to the microscopic world and encounter the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other organisms known as microbes in the 24 lectures of Mysteries of the Microscopic World. In undertaking this journey, guided by award-winning Professor Bruce E. Fleury, you'll learn the powerful role these microbes play in your life, from the bacteria in your stomach that helps you digest, to the pathogens responsible for history's greatest pandemics.
Mysteries of the Microscopic World
Join a scientific detective story through a world of wonder with an award-winning professor.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
london2000 from
An interesting course, but now quite dated
I enjoyed this course by the late Bruce Fleury, but it was much lighter on science than I was expecting. It was more a long series of interesting anecdotes, usually placed within a historical context. I think anyone unfamiliar with the workings of the immune system might struggle with the superficial overview that is given here - more depth was needed.
However, Bruce was an excellent speaker. He was suffering from Parkinson's disease which affected his style of presentation, but his voice was very expressive, maintaining my interest in what he had to say. He also had a droll sense of humour, with some Dad jokes which appealed to me. One that I recall was him saying that noses run in his family when discussing his inherited rhinitis. He was reading a script from screens, but he did so naturally and fluently.
The course was made in 2011, so is quite dated and things have changed since it was made, most notably the experiences of the Covid pandemic. Nonetheless, simply from the historical perspective of learning about diseases caused by microorganisms it is worth watching.
Date published: 2024-12-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
JBKelley from
Excellent Course
I found this course very interesting and well researched. The presentation kept me interested and I went through the course quickly. The middle lectures were a bit academic and plodding but still very informative. This course needs an update. Many of the examples were outdated and there have been advances in many of the areas discussed. But, I have watched dozens of these courses, and this was one of my favorites.
Date published: 2023-04-07
Rated 5 out of
5
by
MSandlin from
Great course and great instructor
It was not exactly what I was expecting, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
Date published: 2022-12-07
Rated 5 out of
5
by
PharmTech from
Terrific course....
Just love this course and have watched it several times. There is so much information to take in....and the Professor is great. Looking for more courses by him,
Date published: 2022-12-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Rooney1948 from
Extremely interesting and energetically presented.Tons of information.Great animated videos.
Date published: 2022-10-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Neilie from
Mysteries of the Microscopic World
With a dry sense of humor and engaging wit, this professor delivers.. As a professor myself, I am impressed by the breadth of knowledge and engaging delivery. Great Job.!
Date published: 2022-08-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Benny 3024 from
great course
Dr. Fleuey is an excellent speaker. He explains difficult concepts about as well as possible in a short course and does it with considerable humor. He discusses a wide range of subjects and makes them appropriate and meaningful. .
Date published: 2022-07-09
Rated 5 out of
5
by
DocD62 from
One of my favourite courses
Great balance of general microbiology-some medical/scientific info couples with interesting historical background. Some of it was thought provoking whilst other parts made you want to scratch or go wash your hands. I really enjoyed listening to Professor Fleury who put over important points effectively but whilst using wit and humour. Would definitely watch any other courses he presented.
Date published: 2022-05-18
Overview
About
Dr. Bruce E. Fleury (1950–2020) was a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University. He earned a BA from the University of Rochester in Psychology and General Science and an MA in Library, Media, and Information Studies from the University of South Florida. His career as a college reference librarian led him to Tulane University, where he became head of the university library's Science and Engineering Division. He went on to earn an MS and a PhD in Biology, both from Tulane. Professor Fleury was the author of numerous articles and newspaper columns, both popular and professional, and a reference book on dinosaurs. He taught between 600 and 700 students a year, and his courses included ornithology, introductory general biology and environmental biology, the history of life, and evolution in human health and disease. His teaching awards included two awards for outstanding teaching from the Tulane chapter of the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society and a Mortar Board "Last Lecture" Award, in which favorite professors are invited to give a lecture as if it were their last. Professor Fleury served as an advisor for Warner Brothers' space epic Green Lantern, working on several classroom and laboratory scenes and serving as a "consulting xenobiologist" on alien life.
Trailer
01: The Invisible Realm
Step into the hidden world of microbes and learn the challenges and advantages of being small-very small. Microbes live in a realm where water seems as thick as molasses and the smoothest surface conceals a canyon of hiding places. Also see how the geometry of a sphere explains how bacteria survive....
32 min
02: Stone Knives to Iron Plows
Turn back the clock to a time when our early ancestors escaped most epidemic diseases. But once we started gathering into villages, raising crops, and domesticating animals, we changed our niche and altered our habitat. Deadly microbes thrived in these new conditions....
32 min
03: The Angel of Death
Follow the trail of one of the most infamous microbes of all time, Yersinia pestis, the cause of the Black Death. Like typhus, malaria, and dengue fever, the Black Death is a vector-borne disease-one transmitted from human to human via a host intermediary; in this case, fleas....
28 min
04: Germ Theory
In the days before the invention of the microscope and the rise of modern medicine, how did people explain a killer plague? Retrace the steps that led pioneers such as Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, and Ignaz Semmelweis to the startling conclusion that organisms invisible to the naked eye cause disease....
27 min
05: The Evolutionary Arms Race
In the first of three lectures on the coevolution that shapes our relationship with the microbial world, explore the discovery of antibiotics and the subsequent upsurge in antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, driven by our overuse of drugs that were once a magic bullet against infection....
33 min
06: Microbial Strategies
Probe the different mechanisms that humans have evolved to defeat microbial invaders, and the strategies evolved by microbes to thwart those defenses. For example, our immune system is primed to produce fever and other infection-fighting responses, but many microbes have developed frighteningly potent countermeasures....
30 min
07: Virulence
Virulence is a measure of the effectiveness of a microorganism at killing its victims. Discover that many diseases, such as syphilis, scarlet fever, and diphtheria, have grown less virulent due to competition and coevolution. On the other hand, vector-borne pathogens often succeed by growing more virulent....
29 min
08: Death by Chocolate
Chart the human-created niches where microbes flourish. Trade, travel, and technological innovations provide new opportunities for the evolution or dispersal of pathogens, including Legionnaires' disease in air conditioning systems, toxoplasmosis in kitty litter, and Oropouche fever in fields cleared for the cultivation of cacao, used in making chocolate....
28 min
09: Bambi's Revenge
Consider more examples of how ecological disturbances, both natural and human-made, can benefit harmful microbes. Thanks to land-clearing and the subsequent explosion in the deer population, Lyme disease now occurs throughout much of the United States. More frightening and deadly, if less widespread, are hantavirus, Lassa fever, and Ebola....
30 min
10: The Germ of Laziness
The hookworm influenced an early 20th-century stereotype of Southerners as indolent and undernourished, and it may have contributed to the outcome of the Civil War. Chart the war waged against this debilitating parasite by zoologist Charles Wardell Stiles, whose public health crusade helped transform the South....
29 min
11: The 1918 Flu-A Conspiracy of Silence
In the first of three lectures on the deadliest epidemic of all time, meet the virus that caused the 1918 flu, investigating its structure, method of infection, and strategy for evading the human immune system. Also learn where it first appeared and how it mutated into a far more virulent strain....
28 min
12: The 1918 Flu-The Philadelphia Story
Track the mutated form of the 1918 flu as it reached American shores and killed an estimated 675,000 people out of a population of 105 million. Philadelphia is a horrifying example of the medieval-like conditions that affected a bustling city trying to deal with mass infection and death....
29 min
13: The 1918 Flu-The Search for the Virus
Follow one of the most gripping detective stories of modern times-the search to recover an intact virus from the 1918 flu. Also learn what made the 1918 flu a more powerful killer than the similar strain that attacked in 1976 and 2009....
28 min
14: Immunity-Self versus Non-Self
Given the proliferation of microbes in our midst, why aren't we sick all the time? In the first of six lectures on the inner mysteries of the immune system, see how different cells have evolved to distinguish self from non-self, providing the first line of defense against infection....
29 min
15: Adaptive Immunity to the Rescue
Delve deeper into the mechanics of adaptive immunity to learn how a few hundred genes can easily make more than 100 million different antigen receptors, specific to any foreign invader that enters the body. Also discover the crucial difference between resistance and immunity....
30 min
16: AIDS-The Quiet Killer
In our age-old struggle with microbes, have we finally met our match with AIDS? The HIV virus that causes AIDS takes aim at the very heart of the human immune system. Probe this elegant strategy and learn where and when HIV first appeared, and why it is so lethal....
31 min
17: The Deadly Strategy of AIDS
Explore the frightening scenarios that may yet unfold with the AIDS pandemic. Then follow the slow progress in developing an AIDS vaccine, and consider the policy of deferring questions of sexual morality to focus on preventing spread of the virus at all costs....
31 min
18: Autoimmunity-Self versus Self
Consider what happens when the immune system turns on us, attacking our own cells and tissues as if we were the enemy. Such autoimmune diseases include multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, and lupus. Examine the mysterious causes of this self-destructive reaction....
30 min
19: Allergies and Asthma
In the closing lecture on the human immune system, follow the microscopic chain of events that lead to allergies and asthma. Peanuts, pollen, bee stings, cat hair-all can cause an overreaction in the immune system, but for different reasons and with results that range from discomfort to death....
30 min
20: Microbes as Weapons
Investigate the history of microbes as weapons, which dates to the practice of catapulting disease-infected corpses into enemy strongholds. Germ warfare was even used during the American Revolutionary War, but it didn't reach maturity until World War II with Unit 731, the notorious project run by the Japanese....
29 min
21: Pandora's Box
As if from Pandora's box, the technology of germ warfare advanced during the cold war to a lethality rivaled only by atomic weapons. Draw back the curtain on the secret American and Soviet projects that perfected this weapon, and learn why biological warfare is the strategy of choice for terrorists....
30 min
22: Old World to New
When European explorers arrived in the New World, they unwittingly brought weapons far more lethal than firearms: namely, microbes, such as smallpox, that the Indians had never encountered. Learn why diseases bred through contact with domesticated animals in the Old World swept through the Americas like the angel of death....
29 min
23: Close Encounters of the Microbial Kind
Is there life beyond Earth? Space is filled with the chemicals essential for life, but so far only indirect evidence for possible microbial life has been found. Also, look at the microbes that thrive in extreme environments on Earth that may resemble conditions on other worlds....
31 min
24: Microbes as Friends
In this last lecture, consider how the vast majority of microbes are harmless or even beneficial to humans. Microorganisms are responsible for everything from the oxygen in air to yogurt and many medicines. They may even help us clean up our planet, proving that the microscopic world is not always the stuff of nightmares!...
31 min
