We already know that microbes are more than just germs. God built them into life for good reasons. Here are some ways people can use microbes for good:

• Sharing bacteria. Some people had a bad infection in their intestines. Doctors saved their lives. They put someone else’s healthy gut bacteria into the sick patients. Scientists want to know what else could work. Imagine if they knew what sickness each bacteria healed! Then they could give people just what they needed.

• Creating fuel. People used microbes to make a renewable fuel, butanol. Butanol is made from a bacteria called Clostridium. Butanol can substitute for diesel or gasoline.

• Finding threats. Some scientists want to design microbes that can sense danger. These microbes would be placed on a silicon chip. The chip would be attached to electronic devices in unmanned military vehicles. The microbes would be able to sense toxic chemicals or even explosives like TNT!

• Treating sewage. You might have heard people talk about sewage getting “treated.” That’s another job microbes do! First, people filter solids out of sewage. Then microbes break down what remains.

• Making medicine. Do you know where antibiotics come from? That’s right—bacteria! More than 500 kinds of antibiotics come from the bacteria Streptomyces. But bacteria have had lots of practice trying to destroy each other. Because of this, even our many antibiotics can’t always catch up with dangerous pathogens. Maybe the new microbe initiative will help!