Microscopic Creatures on Your Skin
In Microscopic Creatures on Your Skin, evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod introduces some microscopic creatures known as skin mites. Scientists demonstrate how to collect skin samples from a person’s forehead using superglue and examine them under a microscope to find these organisms. The video explores how skin mites live on human skin, particularly on areas like the forehead and cheeks, and how magnification reveals these tiny creatures in great detail. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Secrets of Skin, a documentary series exploring the natural history of the body's largest organ.
Lesson Express
Q: Why do scientists use a microscope to look at skin mites?
A: Skin mites are too tiny to see with the naked eye.
Q: What did the scientists see when they looked at the skin under the microscope?
A: They saw tiny mites living on the skin, which are hard to see without a microscope.
Q: What does the method of collecting skin tell us about where the mites live?
A: It shows that skin mites live in the top layers of the skin, and that’s where scientists looked for them.
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