Bacteria cooperate to build shelters. Beth Tyler 05.25.01 Animals often live in groups and build shelters. Recently, scientists who study microorganisms, including bacteria, have observed similar behavior. Many microorganisms build shelters called microbial biofilms. Bacteria are hard to see, but scientists stain the biofilm with a bright fluorescent color. Then they use lasers to scan pictures of the entire biofilm into a computer. Scientists study the scanned pictures in the computer, making it easy to look inside the biofilm and see its structures. The biofilms are more than just bacteria stuck to a surface. Rather, they are complex communities that can change to prevent the bacteria from drying out and from antibiotics that can kill them.     Many of the bacteria that make us sick build biofilms. Because of that, it is important for scientists who develop medicine to understand how the bacteria build the biofilms. If they understand how the biofilms work, then they can develop medicines that destroy the biofilms and kill the bacteria.   Costerton, J. William, Zbigniew Lewandowski, Douglas E. Caldwell, Darren R. Korber, and Hilary M. Lappin-Scott. 1995. Microbiabl biofilms. Annual Review of Microbiology 49: 711-745.    Crespi, Bernard J. 2001. The evolution of social behavior in microorganisms. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16(4):178-183.  ©2001 The Aurora Collection, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Site Development by: Interactive Multimedia. Inc.