• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Almanac/Teeth Beasties

Air Date: Week of

This week, we have facts about Antony von Leeuwenhoek. Three hundred and twenty years ago this week, the Dutch naturalist reported discovering a host of "beasties" - that we now know as bacteria - in the plaque between his teeth.



Transcript

CURWOOD: Welcome back to Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood.

[MUSIC: Cliff Martinez “Main Title Theme” SOLARIS (2002)]

CURWOOD: This week in 1683 Antony van Leeuwenhoek first reported seeing microscopic “beasties” in the plaque on his teeth. Today we call them bacteria. These tiny beings astounded the Dutch naturalist and centuries later inspired the same fascination in Harvard undergrad Jonathan H. Esensten.

Mr. Esensten says van Leeuwenhoek also studied plaque samples from men who never brushed their teeth and found a “great company” of wee beings “a-swimming more nimbly” than any he had ever seen.

Esensten: So he thought when they were taken out of the dirty mouths of old men and put into water, then they got excited and started jumping around.

CURWOOD: By profession, van Leeuwenhoek was not a scientist, but his hobby was making microscopes by hand, and his instruments helped scientists see the natural world in a whole new way.

Esensten: Eventually, it would lead people like Pasteur to formulate theories about diseases and the relationship between certain diseases and microscopic organisms.

CURWOOD: Jonathan Esensten, a biochemistry major, was the author of a column last semester in The Harvard Crimson entitled “Cavorting with Beasties.” And yes, he brushes his teeth – twice a day.

And for this week, that’s the Living on Earth Almanac.

[MUSIC: Cliff Martinez “Main Title Theme” SOLARIS (2002)

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth