by Roberto — It should come as no surprise to STC readers that most of us spend the vast majority of our time living indoors. Yet, when it comes to environmental microbiology research, relatively little emphasis has been placed in studying the microbial ecology of the indoor spaces that we occupy for such a large fraction of our lives. That has been changing... Read more →
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Talmudic Question #149
by Jeff Mahr — Why are there apparently no electron transport chains in eukaryotic membranes? Read more →
The Human Circadian Rhythm is a Microbial Business
by Elio — Nice of the Nobel Committee to award the 2017 prize for Medicine for work on the circadian rhythm of fruit flies. This gives us an entry into a paper that helps explain how this cycle actually works. It won't surprise readers of this blog that the answer is microbial and concerns, not unexpectedly, the intestinal microbiota... Read more →
"We Are What We Are"
by Christoph — If I were a stage director and contracted for another revival of the Broadway show 'La Cage aux Folles' including the chorus line's "We Are What We Are", I would not waver a minute to choose for all leading roles members of the Pseudomonas family. All are true professionals (method acting, Meisner technique), versatile in acting solo, or as a team, in dancing and in singing. Read more →
Why Be Intracellular and Be Motile?
by Elio — Why would a strict intracellular organism be motile? In the case of rickettsiae (and some not strict intracellular parasites such as the listeriae and shigellae), motility is carried out through the activity of the host's actin, apparently for the purpose of infecting adjacent cells. I am not talking about that, but rather I will consider here... Read more →
Plimpton v. Muybridge
by Christoph — In July, an article by journalist Megan Molteni from the tech magazine 'Wired' had hit the headlines: "Scientists Upload a Galloping Horse GIF Into Bacteria With Crispr". Wow! And a second 'wow!' followed suit when a few weeks later an article by journalist Maev Kennedy in the British newspaper 'The Guardian' boasted the title "Mathematical secrets..." Read more →
Scientific Publishing – A Conversation
by George O'Toole and Roberto — Publishing the results of research in journals remains the most important lasting record of scientific work. Yet, if you ask almost any scientist about the process of publishing itself they will likely bemoan the current situation. Perhaps this has always been the case, it's true that people tend to long for "the good old days." But perhaps... Read more →
Robert E. Hungate – Grandfather of Anaerobic Microbiology
by Jonathan Lin — Louis Pasteur once said, "Fermentation is life without air." Although many microbes need the oxygen in the air to live, not all of them benefit from it. There are many bacteria that thrive in oxygen-depleted (anoxic) environments such as sediments, sludge, and the guts of animals. Many of these bacteria, the anaerobes, are extremely sensitive... Read more →
A Bacterial Aphrodisiac
by Elio — Sex is kindled by many factors, not all anticipated. Here is an unexpected one: bacteria make an aphrodisiac. But hold on, we know that bacteria engage in untold interactions with eukaryotes whose environment they share, so this should not be surprising. Fact is, the default mode of microbial existence is social, so why not sex? Read more →