This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
I got a really fun early Christmas gift yesterday, Moyasimon 1: Tales of Agriculture, a manga series about a boy who can see microbes. His skills lead to some exciting fermentation-related adventures at his agriculture college. I learned a lot about miso, sake, and meats that ferment underground!
The microbes are super cute, and it also has one of the best anthropomorphized earthworms I've ever seen:
I of course also loved the chapter on beneficial microbes and gut flora:
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And toe fungus!
While there's a lot of silliness that happens, the characters are very serious about microbes:
There's even a live action adaptation with adorable CGI microbes that cheer "Let's brew!" that you can watch on YouTube!