3 interactive concept widgets for Microbes in Human Welfare. Drag any slider, change any number, and watch the formula and the answer update live. Built so you understand how each NEET problem actually works, not just the final number.
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Explore which microbe gives which product, across household items, fermented beverages, antibiotics, chemicals and bioactive molecules.
Select a product category to explore the microbe responsible, the product it makes and the key NEET fact. Covers household products, fermented beverages, antibiotics, industrial chemicals and bioactive molecules.
Microbe
Lactobacillus (LAB)
Product
Curd
NEET fact
LAB converts lactose to lactic acid, which coagulates milk. LAB also produce vitamin B12. A small amount of old curd added to fresh milk acts as a starter (inoculum).
Microbe
Product
Lactobacillus (LAB)
Curd
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast)
Leavened bread, idli, dosa
Propionibacterium sharmanii
Swiss cheese (large holes)
Penicillium roqueforti
Roquefort cheese (blue veins, tangy)
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Step through primary and secondary sewage treatment and anaerobic digestion, and watch the BOD fall.
Click each stage to see the type of process, what goes in, what comes out, how BOD changes and the NEET fact about it. Covers primary (physical), secondary/biological (flocs, aeration, activated sludge) and anaerobic digestion (biogas from methanogens).
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Input
Raw sewage (high BOD, high suspended solids)
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Output
Clarified liquid (primary effluent) with reduced suspended solids. BOD is reduced only partially.
BOD reduced by about 20 to 30%
Primary Treatment
Type
Physical (mechanical)
Where
Settling tanks and screens
What happens
Sewage passes through bar screens that remove large floating objects (rags, plastic, debris). Then grit and sand settle out. Finally the sewage sits in a large settling tank where suspended solids (sludge) settle to the bottom. The floating scum (oil and grease) is skimmed off. This is entirely a physical process, no biology.
NEET fact
Primary treatment is purely physical. It removes large solids and grit. It does NOT reduce BOD significantly.
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Explore microbes and organisms used as biocontrol agents and biofertilisers, with what each one controls or enriches.
Switch between biocontrol agents (Bacillus thuringiensis, Trichoderma, Baculovirus, ladybird, dragonfly) and biofertilisers (Rhizobium, mycorrhiza/Glomus, Anabaena/cyanobacteria, Azospirillum). Click any organism to see what it controls or enriches and the NEET fact.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
Type
Bacterium (soil)
Target pest
Caterpillars (lepidopteran larvae) on crops
Mechanism
Produces protein crystals (Bt toxin) toxic to insect larvae. Farmers spray dried spore preparations on crops. Caterpillars ingest the spores, the toxin is activated in their alkaline gut and kills them. Harmless to plants, mammals and birds.
NEET fact
Bt was one of the first commercialised biocontrol agents. The cry genes from Bt are also used to create transgenic Bt crops (Bt cotton, Bt brinjal).
Organism
Controls
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
Caterpillars
Trichoderma (fungus)
Plant pathogens in the soil
Baculovirus (NPV)
Insects and arthropods
Ladybird beetle
Aphids
Dragonfly
Mosquitoes
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