Small Things Considered

A Fastidious Bacteriophage

by Michael Yarmolinsky
Patrons of upscale seafood restaurants are given the opportunity to see that the unfortunate creatures destined for the lobster pot are waving their antennae about. Savvy customers at downscale seafood markets evaluate questionable claims of freshness by smell. A fastidious bacteriophage would welcome... Read more →

Talmudic Question #63

by Stan Zahler
When you streak out Your Favorite Bacterium on an appropriate agar plate, the colonies reach an expected diameter and stop growing. Why? Read more →

Our Counterintelligence Staph

by Karen Schwarzberg, Mike Gurney, and Nikos Gurfield
Typically, when one thinks about the commensal bacteria living with us, what comes to mind are the benefits they provide by aiding in food metabolism, producing vitamins, and preventing colonization by invading pathogenic bacteria. Read more →

Taking Risks: ASMCUE Musings

by Amy Cheng Vollmer
After missing it for several years due to other ASM responsibilities, I had the delightful opportunity to attend this year’s ASMCUE, the ‘appetizer’ course that preceded the ASM’s General Meeting in San Diego. The sessions at the ASMCUE included... Read more →

Uncovering Beauty in Proteins to Fight the Pneumococcal Fratricides

by César Sánchez
This post is about pneumonia and pneumococci, fratricide at the cellular level, and a pretty protein. And there's a video too! First things first. Pneumonia is a common disease characterized by inflammation of the lungs that can be deadly: 4 million people in the world die from it every year. Half of them are... Read more →

A Posteriori

by Elio
The 2010 ASM General Meeting held in San Diego continued a hallowed tradition dating back 110 years (a tradition spanning 57 years in my particular case, so I have firsthand knowledge of more than half of this history). The meeting format changed dramatically... Read more →

Small Things: First Responders to Oil Spills

by D. Jay Grimes and Ronald M. Atlas
On April 20, 2010, an offshore oil drilling rig in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the 'Deepwater Horizon' (DH), exploded from undetermined causes. The floating rig sunk two days later, breaking off the well pipe and spilling huge amounts of oil. At the low end of the estimates, the spill has already eclipsed... Read more →

Take Home Lessons from Microbiology

by Mark Martin
I just attended the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators in San Diego, along with many other enthusiastic teachers of matters microbiological. At the end of that conference, we heard Amy Cheng Vollmer... Read more →