# Insanely cute microorganisms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307 "2003-07-18T03:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307/1 "2003-07-18T03:29:17Z")
Those of you who knew me at the Pizza Parlor know that my screen name was “tardigrade.” I found a couple of videos: [http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmay01/mmbearvideo.html](http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmay01/mmbearvideo.html) (I particularly like #1.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307/2 "2003-07-18T07:57:43Z")
Cute? I suppose their mothers love them. Personally, I think [copepods](http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/moviegallery/images/pondscum/cyclops.jpg) are cuter. YMMV (Your Microorganism May Vary). ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307/3 "2003-07-18T12:26:04Z")
Personally, I think [these](http://www.giantmicrobes.com) are much cuter. (I have a rhinovirus.) ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6bbea6/32.png) [@Yersinia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307/4 "2003-07-18T22:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GilaB \* > \*\*Personally, I think [these](http://www.giantmicrobes.com) are much cuter. (I have a rhinovirus.) \*\* OH YES, these are wonderful!! I’m gonna buy some because they’ll go great with my collection of stuffed toy rats! However, as a former microbiologist, I gotta mention the following: (1) Find yourself an electron micrograph of Salmonella typhimurium if you wanna see a REALLY cute buggie. 😃 (2) Some of the buggies at GiantMicrobes aren’t quite right scientifically. For instance, S. pyogenes, for sore throat, should not be a “cluster of four” (the term is actually tetrad) like that – Micrococci group themselves in tetrads and Staphylococci in clusters, but Strep are in long chains (and when you gram stain any of these, they’re blue or blue-purple, not red). On the other hand, I want to buy this one because it DOES look like Neisseria both in color and structure, heh heh heh (meningitis or gonorrhea, anyone?). 🙂 And a real Shigella infection actually causes diarrhea (to me, “stomach ache” says “nauseous and I’m gonna barf”) plus has peritrichous flagella. This means the toy should be fringed on all sides (up and down as well as just the sides) with the “around the edge” fringes that indicate flagella. There’s still several I like and plan to order, and I also plan to mention these slight scientific inaccuracies to them, but yeah, this is way cool. Funny, too, since a few years back when I was married, my husband actually made me two stuffed amoebae in response to my “I want a stuffed Ebola virus” when he asked what I wanted for my birthday. LOL. Infectionately, Yersinia. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insanely-cute-microorganisms/189307/5 "2003-07-18T23:01:50Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Helicobacter with eyeballs.