Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello
i am starting my science fair on the 17 August 2011.
The first step was to ask a question so i asked, if another bacteria, meets another kind of bacteria, what will happen?
The answer i researched said a new influenza will probably be developed but i couldnt find enough information.
so can you please give me a site to find information rather than http://www.google.co.za or http://www.wikipedia.com?
My teacher said i must research about AGAR, another kind of bacteria, but i donot know what is relating with agar and my question( my question topic-bacteria,agar-bacteria that i get but i donot know where to start)
I also need some ideas of hypothesis of my question(please dont give the whole answer, just give me a few keypoints so i could have at least something to think about)
if you could kindly give me some advice, it would be thank-youed.
THINGS I NEED TO GET ADVICE
*A SITE TO FIND INFO, NOT http://WWW.GOOGLE.CO.ZA AND http://WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM
*HYPOTHESIS FOR MY QUESTION
*IDEAS ABOUT BACTERIA

THANK YOU
SINCERELY o4sesame

Hi,

I suspect your question needs to be refined somewhat to get useful answers. Are you interested in mutually beneficial interactions like symbiotic relationships? Or antagonistic relationships as when one organism produces an antibiotic to discourage a second organism. Or are you interested in how bacterial of the same type collaborate to form structures that make them more successful? If you want to know more about symbiotic interactions, look up information on lichens or symbiosis. If you want information on antagonistic interactions, here is a document:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi ... ne.0000960

http://jdr.sagepub.com/content/88/11/982.abstract

http://www.merchantgould.com/CM/Article ... les-85.pdf

http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/NHPR.html

Here is a little information on lichens:

http://www.nybg.org/bsci/lichens/

http://www.backyardnature.net/lichens.htm

http://ocid.nacse.org/lichenland/

I suspect your teacher asked you to look into agar because agar plates are often used to culture bacteria and sometimes to observe interactions between bacteria. Here is a a Science Buddies project idea on the topic:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p014.shtml

Have you heard the story of the discovey of penicillin? Sir Alexander Fleming observed zones of inhibition around mold colonies on agar plates:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 222AA8ooA5

I hope this gets you started on your research.

Good luck and have fun with this topic!

Best regards,

Barrett L Tomlinson