For microbiologists, the importance of microorganisms in our daily lives and their impact on our well-being is evident. However, microbiology literacy in our society is far from being enough for individuals to make informed choices and to demand actions based on that information. The vaccine hesitation movement and the alarming increase in antimicrobial resistance due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics are just two examples of how much work is needed to make our society literate in topics related to microbiology. Considering the challenges of communicating a discipline surrounded by misconceptions, which studies the role of living organisms that cannot be seen in plain sight, we need to explore different strategies to effectively contribute to microbiology literacy in our society. Here, we will comment on the use of comics for such a task.

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Isolation of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria is a key step for the study of microbiological diversity, metabolic pathways and bioremediation, however current methods lack simplicity and versatility. We developed an easy method that allows the screening and isolation of bacterial colonies capable of degrading hydrocarbons, such as diesel or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as the pollutant explosive, 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). The method uses a two-layer solid medium, with a layer of M9 medium, with a second layer containing the carbon source deposited trough the evaporation of ethanol. Using this medium we grew hydrocarbon-degrading strains, using diesel, phenanthrene or anthracene as the sole carbon sources, as well as three TNT-degrading isolates. Using this medium we isolated PAHs-degrading bacterial colonies directly from diesel polluted soils. Analysis revealed that bacteria grown in medium using PAHs as carbon source maintain their morphological characteristics when compared to cells grown on traditional media with glucose.