Small Things Considered

An Aromatic Snippet

by Elio
As friends gather at the dinner table, you open that old bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion. You pour out a small amount in a stem glass, swirl it, and bring it to your nose. You detect the aroma of various fruits and a hint of flowery scent with a note of honey... Read more →

TWiM #102: Happiness is the spore-formers in your gut

The TWiM team discusses evidence that serotonin synthesis is regulated by spore-forming members of the gut microbiota. Read more →

Four Resources and One Fiction

by Daniel P. Haeusser
Aside from research, teaching, and writing for Small Things Considered, I read a lot. Reviews of advanced reading copies that I am fortunate to receive appear on my site Reading 1000 Lives and in contributions to the Skiffy and Fanty Show. Occasionally some of what I read is worth noting... Read more →

Super Mario, Super Sonic, Paramecium!

by Radwa Raed Sharaf
What could those three possibly have in common? Believe it or not, they all play the role of a lead action figure in kids’ video games. Hearing the latest edition of the German biotechnology news broadcast, I was surprised to learn that researchers of the Riedel-Kruse lab at Stanford... Read more →

No Free Lunch for Cheaters

by S. Marvin Friedman
Bacteria engage in a variety of behaviors that require coordinated gene expression, such as bioluminescence, biofilm formation, production of virulence factors, and antibiotic resistance. In these situations, gene expression requires a critical number of cells. In its absence, the exercise would be in vain, something like... Read more →

Your Favorite Talmudic Questions, I.

by Elio
These are questions that may not have definitive answers but where the pleasure resides in contemplating the question. What deeper meaning lies therein? As an aside, the question "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" may sound Talmudic but actually has a totally different... Read more →

Small Size Holds Sway

by Elio
Let me meander a bit before tackling the topic of how small a size microbes can attain. One of the main tools in this business is filtration, a technology that we tend to take for granted in the microbiological lab. Yet, filtration has a notable history and notable applications. It was used... Read more →

Pictures Considered #25 : Getting A Ride

by Elio
A recent review article deals with the fascinating phenomenon of pathogens exiting from their host cell. Sometimes, one pathogen helps another one in transmission to the next host. In one case, a Candida albicans hypha caught in the act of fleeing... Read more →

Three Roads to Cellular Compartments

by Merry Youle
The contents of our own cells, like those of all eukaryotes, are compartmentalized within a collection of diverse, membrane-bounded organelles. The lipid bi-layer margins, studded with embedded transport proteins, pass some molecules while blocking others. The enzymes that catalyze sequential steps in a metabolic pathway are often clustered together inside... Read more →

Talmudic Question #120

Why are there no known prokaryotic retroviruses? Read more →