by Bob Murray — What is the life expectancy for the descendants of a single bacterial cell under ideal or stressful conditions? Read more →
« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
by Bob Murray — What is the life expectancy for the descendants of a single bacterial cell under ideal or stressful conditions? Read more →
Posted on February 28, 2008 at 01:03 PM in Talmudic Questions, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (6)
by Elio — For anyone interested in the philosophy of microbiology (and who shouldn’t be?), the Centre for Genomics in Society of the University of Exeter (UK) sponsors a website called 'Dimensions of Microbiology'. There you will find... Read more →
Posted on February 28, 2008 at 01:01 PM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)
by a consortium of Integrative Microbiology graduate students — Imagine that there is an alien – on some distant planet – who can reach out with a living appendage of its own and use byproducts of its own metabolism to transfer an electric current outside of its own body. If you think that is bizarre, look no further than our planet – and think small. Metal-reducing bacteria do exactly that. Read more →
Posted on February 25, 2008 at 12:20 PM in Ecology, Physiology & Genetics, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (4)
by Merry — When you're outnumbered five or ten to one, strategy counts. Bacteria and archaea are master strategists, thriving despite the omnipresent hordes of phage. For some time, it has been known that prokaryotic cells have ploys for blocking phage adsorption, preventing DNA injection, recognizing and cleaving the incoming DNA, and otherwise aborting the infection. Recently, another potent – and likely very ancient – mechanism of defense... Read more →
Posted on February 21, 2008 at 10:36 AM in Physiology & Genetics, Teachers Corner, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (5)
by Elio — The American Academy of Microbiology has just announced the release of its newest colloquium report, 'The Uncharted Microbial World: Microbes and their Activities in the Environment'. This report, based on a series of discussions by experts... Read more →
Posted on February 20, 2008 at 12:48 PM in Book Reviews, Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (3)
by Elio — Recently, I wrote an article called 'In Defense of the Lecture'. It appeared in 'Resonance', a science education journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences. If you care to know what this is about, here is the first paragraph from the article. Read more →
Posted on February 18, 2008 at 01:52 PM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (2)
by Elio — Deep sea hydrothermal vents are characterized by steep physical and chemical gradients and by the presence of unusual and fascinating life forms. Varied organisms grow there: giant tube worms that exploit the metabolism of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria, clams, crabs, shrimps, and more. These like their water tepid. But some archaea prefer... Read more →
Posted on February 14, 2008 at 02:12 PM in Ecology, Physiology & Genetics, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (6)
by Elio — The discovery of bacterial fossils dating back to the early days of the Earth is among the most stirring facets of microbiology. I hadn’t assumed that the subject had been exhausted, but I did think that the basic facts regarding early photosynthetic cyanobacteria had been established. Not exactly so, as I have learned by reading the review written by Robert Riding... Read more →
Posted on February 11, 2008 at 01:23 PM in Ecology, Evolution | Permalink | Comments (1)
by Elio — Joshua Lederberg died recently. His is a revered name among our older readers, and we assume that many younger ones also know of him. But just in case, let us mention some of what made him a giant in modern biology. He is best known for finding that bacteria have sex, that is that they can undergo... Read more →
Posted on February 07, 2008 at 03:51 PM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (4)
The eukaryotic nuclear membrane is something of a mysterious structure and its origins are the subject of much debate. It would be interesting to hear a microbiological view on the question: why is there a nuclear membrane? Read more →
Posted on February 07, 2008 at 12:46 PM in Talmudic Questions, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (6)