# It's oogy all the way down **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362 "2009-11-12T21:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/1 "2009-11-12T21:22:52Z")
Remember seeing those shows about the dust mites and little insect life on your skin? How taking a shower would just give them a moist environment and they’d reproduce quicker? Check out Bacteriophages: > **[Nature's Most Wicked-Looking Robot, the Bacteriophage](https://gizmodo.com/natures-most-wicked-looking-robot-the-bacteriophage-5400443)** > > I can't lie; I've been waiting for an excuse to post a picture of a bacteriophage\*, the microscopic spider virus that lands on bacteria to inject its own DNA, for a long time. This Cyborg Life gives me an excuse. I’m going to go bathe in Purell now. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/2 "2009-11-12T22:14:47Z")
Hmm. Ignorance of biology combined with implied germophobia. I think it’s best if I exit this thread now. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/3 "2009-11-12T22:34:28Z")
Why so serious? I thought it was pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/4 "2009-11-13T02:25:21Z")
Not serious - just two of my hot button issues, so I bowed out before I overreacted. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/5 "2009-11-13T03:00:28Z")
Well, at the rate we’re going, it’s just a conversation between two people. Personally, I think we over sterilize everything, to the detriment of our immune systems, but it’s not like you’re going to get my life’s story in a four line OP. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/6 "2009-11-13T16:42:34Z")
It looks excatly like the watertower in my home town. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/7 "2009-11-13T16:50:37Z")
That’s cool! And even better, it’s available at giantmicrobes. > **[T4 (T4-Bacteriophage)](https://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/t4.html)** > > T4-Bacteriophage may look like something out of a science fiction movie, but if you’re an E. coli bacteria, it’s the stuff of your nightmares. This adorable plush representation of T4 provides a fun, hands-on-way to learn about viruses and the... ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/8 "2009-11-13T17:03:15Z")
“Big bugs have little bugs Upon their backs to bite 'em. And little bugs have littler bugs And so on, ad infinitum.” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/9 "2009-11-13T17:49:54Z")
The bacterio phage is really small, there is a relative size of one shown on this link. You will notice the phage down next to the measles virus. This site is pretty cool and gives an idea of the relative size of things. Just slowly move the slide at the bottom of the picture and zoom farther down into the scale of really small things. [http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/](http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/) ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/10 "2009-11-13T19:05:08Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > That’s cool! And even better, it’s available at giantmicrobes. > > [T4 - Virus-Hunting Bacteriophage Plush | GIANTmicrobes](http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/T4.html) Holy shit, this is awesome! Is there anything the Internet can’t provide? I think I’m going to do all my holiday shopping here. (If only they had C. Elegans!) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/11 "2009-11-13T20:06:49Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Holy shit, this is awesome! Is there anything the Internet can’t provide? I think I’m going to do all my holiday shopping here. (If only they had C. Elegans!) I got my mom e coli (the gift that keeps on giving?) for Christmas one year. And now they have gigantic-size ones. It’s a toss-up between one of those and [http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Mr.-Bacon's-Big-Adventure-Board-Game.html](http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Mr.-Bacon%27s-Big-Adventure-Board-Game.html) P.S. Hee, hee, it’s scum: [http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/scum.html](http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/scum.html) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-oogy-all-the-way-down/517362/12 "2009-11-13T20:55:21Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I got my mom e coli (the gift that keeps on giving?) for Christmas one year. And now they have gigantic-size ones. It’s a toss-up between one of those and > > [http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Mr.-Bacon's-Big-Adventure-Board-Game.html](http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Mr.-Bacon%27s-Big-Adventure-Board-Game.html) > > P.S. Hee, hee, it’s scum: [http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/scum.html](http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/scum.html) I gave my wife’s sister “Herpes” and “Syphillis” last Christmas. And that’s how the family still jokes about it. (She’s in nursing school, so I thought they were cute and appropriate.)