Every breath of air, every sip of water, everything we eat is awash with vast numbers of astonishingly small viruses and bacteria, each evolved as strikingly beautiful geometric forms; but some are amongst our most dangerous enemies.
You might have noticed we’ve been talking a lot about viruses lately. That’s because we’re showing beautiful microscopic images of viruses and bacteria at Vivid Sydney. So do you know tetanus from zika or the flu from the common cold? Test yourself with our viral quiz.
Results
Well done! Let’s hope your intelligence is infectious! (sorry, couldn’t help it)
Hey, it’s the effort that counts, right? Rest, fluids and you’ll get over it.
#1. It’s spread by mosquitoes and can cause serious birth defects in unborn children.
#2. It can cause diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting and is often the cause of mass illness on cruise ships.
#3. While you might not immediately think it’s very dangerous, outbreaks of this virus cause many deaths.
#4. It’s the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is also known as the common cold.
#5. A common misconception is that it infects people through rust but it actually makes its home in soil and dust.
#6. This bacterium is named after the sound the sufferer makes when coughing
We're going viral!
We let the public peek under the microscope and see more beautiful and dangerous viruses at Vivid Sydney.
19th September 2020 at 5:22 am
big brain time
14th May 2019 at 8:35 pm
Tetanus is bacterial too – Clostridium tetani