By Tim Donohue — As I wheeled my bag away from the Convention Center in New Orleans after the 115th General Meeting, I noticed its ASM luggage tag, which states "Microbes Touch Everything". This simple line is a perfect summary of the importance of the microbial sciences and the core mission of ASM to promote and advance this field. Read more →
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An ongoing phage drama
by Jamie Henzy — Life is full of tough choices. Some of the more dramatic of them play out in the world of bacteria and the phages that infect them... Read more →
This Week in Microbiology #108: Vaccine in the time of cholera
The professors of TWiM discuss a University of Wisconsin plan for rescuing biomedical research in the US, and results of a clinical trial in Bangladesh of an oral cholera vaccine. Read more →
A Snippet: More Awesome Ocelloid Surprises
by Elio — Not long ago, we posted a piece entitled "The Awesomest Thing in Biology" in which we celebrated the mind-boggling complexities of the ocelloid, an organelle that closely resemble the vertebrate eye – in a unicellular protist! It turns out that further surprises come our way... Read more →
Swapping Symbionts Enabled Mediterranean Lichen to Conquer the Arctic
by Jennifer Frazer — In 2003, the Mediterranean coral Oculina patagonica did something that was supposed to be impossible: it destroyed bacteria that had formerly been bleaching and killing it. Read more →
Talmudic Question #123
You escape from your lab into the great outdoors for an afternoon, with your new DNA detector in your pocket. You poke about here and there, and find sites where there is a measurable amount of DNA free in solution, say a picogram or more. Where might you be? Read more →
This Week in Microbiology #107: The battle in your bladder
Vincent and Michael discuss the highly diverse microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians, and how the composition of human urine plays a role in the battle for iron. Read more →
Death by Special Delivery
by Merry Youle — If you were a lysogen, that is, a bacterium carrying a prophage nestled in your chromosome, you might be hosting a traitor who will some day turn on you and kill you. On the other hand, you might be carrying the inadvertent donor of valuable genes that will benefit... Read more →