Small Things Considered

There's Gold in That Thar Periplasm

by Elio  
When thinking of a gold prospector, most of us conjure up a wizened old character leading a mule that carries his pick, gold pan, and rusty coffee pot. Nowadays, think of bacteria instead. Specifically, picture the bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans (formerly Ralstonia metallidurans), which carries out... Read more →

Microbial Art

by Elio  
Curious about what all you can paint using bacteria as your pigments? Use your artistry to inoculate agar plates by design, then wait for the bacteria to grow into colonies in esthetic shapes and colors. To whet your appetite and... Read more →

Mad Dogs and Microbiologists

by William C. Summers  
Jean-Baptiste watched the powerful dog with unsteady gait approach and then attack a group of six of his friends. He picked up his whip and rushed to meet the animal, only to be savagely bitten on his left hand. In fierce hand-to-hand combat, Jean-Baptiste finally managed to throw the animal to the ground,... Read more →

Fiddling with Fungi: And the Winner Is…

by Elio  
Late in August of 2008 we promised to update you on the attempts to out-Stradivarius Stradivarius by crafting violins made from wood treated with fungi. Here is the latest news. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research made violins from wood treated with two different fungi... Read more →

Small Friends of Fungi

by Bob Mesibov  
If you studied the traditional sort of biology, you're probably carrying around an unfortunate prejudice. You see terrestrial habitats as a simplified nutrients-and-energy pyramid. At the bottom are green plants, feeding on sunlight, carbon dioxide and soil water and minerals. Next layer up on the pyramid is... Read more →

Talmudic Question #54

Some believe that the extent of anaerobic respiration on Earth is usually underestimated. What is your guess for the proportion of biogenic CO₂ that is made by this mechanism? Read more →

Getting a Handle on Cell Organization

by Franklin M. Harold  
Structural organization is one of the most conspicuous features of cells, and possibly the most elusive. No one really doubts that that cell functions commonly require that the right molecules be in the right place at the right time; or that spatial organization is what distinguishes a living cell from a soup of... Read more →

Of Terms in Biology: Neuston

by Merry  
When I stumbled across the term bacterioneuston, I discovered a whole new world where the air meets the sea. I found that marine neuston had long been used to refer to the diverse flora and fauna inhabiting the topmost 5 cm of the oceans — a distinctly different assemblage than found in the waters below. Read more →

All for One, and One for All!

by Mark Martin  
When I recently attended the Sixth International Symbiosis Society Congress in Madison, Wisconsin, I was awed by the fascinating forms that symbiotic relationships take among diverse organisms. One talk that particularly intrigued me was from the laboratory of Marilyn Roossinck of the... Read more →

Of Terms in Biology: Planktonic

by Elio  
The word planktonic is widely used in microbiology for organisms that are floating in bodies of water. It may be worthwhile to ponder its meaning. According to Wikipedia: plankton consist of any drifting organisms (animals, plants, archaea, or bacteria) that inhabit the pelagic zone... Read more →