Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #96

Bacterial cells are smaller than eukaryotic cells, with some exception. Viruses are smaller than bacteria, with some exception. These are just two examples of why definitions in Biology, unlike in Physics and Chemistry, most often need to be qualified. What does this tell us about Biology? Read more →

TWiM #51: Cave Science with Hazel Barton

Vincent, Michael, and Elio meet up with Hazel Barton to talk about cave microbiology. Read more →

Tales of Centenarians

by Claudio Scazzocchio
The year 2012 was quite turbulent in Italian politics but it ended with a display of near unanimity. The reason was the posthumous homage to the oldest senator of the Republic and the oldest Nobel Prize winner, Rita Levi-Montalcini. In Italy, the President has the privilege of personally naming up to… Read more →

A Passing Thought

by Elio
In the celebrated novel The Rebel Angels, the famed Canadian author Robertson Davies mentions Ozias Froats, a fictional professor potentially on his way to a Nobel Prize for discovering that everyone’s feces reflect the maker’s personality. He did not have today’s ready recourse to metagenomics (that being still in the future)… Read more →

Bacterial Antidepressants: Avoiding Stationary Phase Stress

by S. Marvin Friedman
High on the list of the exciting manners bacteria communicate with one another is quorum sensing (QS), a population-dependent gene regulation system that operates within a wide range of species. The general scheme of QS is as follows: at high population densities, signal molecules called autoinducers reach threshold levels, at… Read more →

The Gender Bias of Science Faculty

by Vincent Racaniello
If you were a science professor, and you received two equally strong applications for the position of laboratory manager, one from a female, one from a male, which one would you pick? The answer may... Read more →

The Gram Stain: Its Persistence and Its Quirks

by Elio
What is more emblematic of our science than the Gram stain? Since its invention 130 years ago, it has been in frequent and continuous use. It conveniently places most bacteria into one of two groups, the Gram-positives or the Gram-negatives. Gram staining is cheap, effective, quick, and relatively easy… Read more →

Talmudic Question #95

by Barry Goldman
Almost all multicellular critters known (animals, plants, fungi, algae) go through a microbial stage in their life cycle - gamete or spore. Can you think of a multicellular species or higher taxon that has NEVER been caught going through the microbial stage? Read more →

Oddly Microbial: Prions

by Marcia Stone
Prions can turn their victims into zombies—they punch holes in their brains and steal their souls. The infected stumble about, might take a bite out of someone if hungry, certainly don’t think straight and, most important, lose their memories and with them the very essence of their humanity or “soul.” Zombie… Read more →