Small Things Considered

Are We in Danger of Technology (Once Again?)

by Elio Figure 1. Recombinant DNA technology. Source. Frontispiece. Source In a world beset by worries about using CRISPR and such technologies for potentially wicked purposes (e.g., cloning potentially dangerous foreign genes into b...

Genome with the Wind...

CRISPRs reveal unknown dispersal mechanism by Jaime E. Zlamal Ancestors of our cousins, the chimpanzees and bonobos, were once one single primate species which split into two when the Congo River formed about 2 million years ago. Not...

Retrospective, December 2014

As is our custom at this time of year, we go over the material that has appeared in this blog over the last six months. Seems like a lot of stuff, but it’s the result of the work of quite a number of dedicated people, all of whom deserve...

Retrospective, December 2011

We’ve prepared this quick tour for you, with brief visits to all the major articles we posted since our May, 2011, retrospective. Source. Microbial Behavior Are You Me or Am I You? Proteus mirabilis is one sentient bug: it can disti...

The Phage Meeting Conferencing with Ice Cream in America's Dairyland

by Ananya Sen Figure 1. Phage meeting at the shore of Lake Mendota, Madison, WI. Source The "Phage Meetings" have a long tradition. The first one was organized by Max Delbrück and held at Cold Spring Harbor in 1950. The meetings slo...

Fine Reading: Microbial Genomics and Infectious Diseases

by Elio Would you like to read a concise and well-written review about how genomics has influenced our understanding of infectious diseases? Click here for a satisfying account by David Relman, one of the leading contributors to this fi...

Retrospective, June 2012

We continue our semi-annual ritual and post this quick tour of featured blog postings since our December, 2011, Retrospective. Source. Viruses It’s Raining Viruses! (Merry) Metabolic genes acquired from their hosts are one strateg...

Microbe in Boston

Bill Gates interviewed at ASM Microbe 2016 by ABC News' Chief Health and Medical Editor, Dr. Richard Besser. Photo by Profvrr by Elio This year’s annual ASM meeting was different in that it combined the usual General Meeting with the a...