by Elio — The Tree of Life vies with the Origin of Life for a position of highest significance among biological concerns. Those who write about it (bioarborists?) have much to say about its anatomy. Does it consist of simple branches, as per Darwin’s sketch, or is it anastomosed into a bramble of connected branches? This matters. Read more →
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Commuting to Work
by Elio — An underwater microbial mat has been found in fairly shallow waters off the coast of Chile and, according to headlines, it’s the size of Greece, or about 132,000 km^2 (or for us norte-americanos: about the size of Alabama). These communities of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria have been known for some time, but their attention has been highlighted... Read more →
Talmudic Question #66
What if someone found an organism whose genes assignation is 1/3 bacterial, 1/3 archaeal, and 1/3 unknown? Read more →
Marine Snow: Dead Organisms and Poop as Manna in the Ocean
by Hannah Waters — Marine snow: does the phrase make you think of fish wearing ice skates, seahorses in knit caps, and crabs building snow-fish? If so, I can’t entirely blame you: the stuff looks like snow, hence its name. But marine snow is not composed of frozen water, each flake unique and beautiful. It is, in fact, made up entirely of... Read more →
Good Writing Beats Bad Writing, Most Any Day
by Elio — Just when some people believe that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, here I am, ready to make a cheerful personal statement:Scientific writing is improving! Of course I base this on reading the microbiological literature, but assume that it’s generally true. What makes me say so? Read more →
Bacterial Physiology and Virulence: The Cultures Converge
by Fred Neidhardt — Growth dominates the attention of many bacteriologists. It has done so for over a century, inspiring explorations into the complex biochemistry and physiology that produce new cells able to grow, survive harsh environments, and live to grow another day. Read more →
Making it Personal
by Amy Cheng Vollmer — Here we are looking at the beginning of another academic year! Like many faculty members, my teaching load includes courses in my area of expertise (microbiology) and also some outside of my true comfort zone (introductory biology). Over the years, my attitude toward teaching... Read more →
Listeria's Visiting Card
by Elio — During infection, host and parasite carry out repeated and intense conversations that often rise to the level of shouting matches. The language they use is chemical, the words and sentences eloquent and forceful. Eavesdropping on the conversation between Listeria monocytogenes LINK 5 and immune cells of its host... Read more →
Talmudic Question #65
What is it about the cyclic nature of nucleotides, both monomers and dimers, that makes them such favorites for signaling purposes? Read more →
Dr. Rous’s Prize-Winning Chicken
by Welkin Johnson — One hundred years ago this month, Peyton Rous published the first in a series of papers describing experiments that began with work on a sarcoma from a single Plymouth Rock hen. In that initial paper, Rous showed that bits of the tumor could establish new tumors when... Read more →