Rachel Gutierrez, age 13, of St. Paul, Minnesota, for her question:

Do germs ever get germs?

To most of us the word germ means those microscopic enemies that invade our bodies and cause sickness. It is hard for us to imagine objects too small for our eyes to see. But the world of germs and microbes is full of assorted shapes and sizes. On this miniature scale, there are whale sized germs and mouse sized germs. Most of the big fellows are bacteria, and most of the small fellows are viruses.

Bacteria type germs often are attacked by virus type germs. We know this for a fact because microscopes have been used to take pictures of bacteria with invading viruses inside them. So germs Certainly do get germs.