Megan Biesinger paints lungs covered in flowers on her agar plate for the art competition. She uses a drawing on paper towels underneath the plate to trace the image in translucent bacteria paint.

Tasha Sturm, who works at Cabrillo College, decided she'll remember her son's germs -- always -- so she grew his hand bacteria in a sterile plate. She said in her American Society for Microbiology ...