Microbes often get a bad name. Whilst some of them do cause disease, others play vital roles in recycling nutrients in the soil to enable plants to grow, and in breaking down human waste. Without microbes, we would have no beer, no yoghurt, no coffee. That's quite impressive for something too small to see. This free course, Microbes friend or foe? sheds some light on them.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• demonstrate general knowledge and understanding of some of the basic facts, language, concepts and principles relating to microbiology and its importance and applications in biological and health sciences and environmental sciences
• understand the contribution that microbiology can make to informed debate on medical and environmental issues
• make sense of information presented in different ways, including textual, numerical and graphical material.