by Roberto — As a means of communicating science, chalk talks can be extremely effective way to engage the audience. These days such presentations have become part and parcel of the interview process of those seeking academic jobs in the life sciences. As much as I love such chalk talks, that's not what I will discuss today. Rather, I want to bring to your attention a... Read more →
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Heat, Hydrogen, and Togas
by Elio — Extremophilic microbes, especially the thermophilic ones, are exceedingly interesting for many industrial processes. And why not, being that high temperatures prompt faster enzymatic reactions. Present-day uses for such organisms include the production of polysaccharide-, lipid-, and protein-degrading enzymes among many. It is worth remembering that this pursuit was initiated by... Read more →
Talmudic Question #150
Apparently, the total weight of Bacteria on Earth exceeds that of Archaea. How come? Read more →
Miraculous Microbes
by the STC team — Surprising as the world of microbes may be, some stories are so far beyond our expectations that they border on the miraculous. We share some of these "Believe it or Not" stories. Read more →
How to Calculate Avogadro's Number
by Elio — So, have you ever asked yourself who Avogadro was? His full name first: Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, Count of Quaregna and Cerreto. He was born on 9 August 1776 in Turin into a noble family and died on 9 July 1856. He was perhaps not the most handsome man in Italy at the time. In 1811, he published... Read more →
Stalking Caulobacter
by Christoph — When it comes to cellular differentiation in bacteria, two model systems stand out in my mind: sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and the two different cell morphologies in Caulobacter crescentus. Both systems have in common that dramatic changes in cell morphology, are easily observed in the microscope. In the case of B. subtilis spore formation, a number of stress signals can derail the cell from its default cell cycle... Read more →
Pictures Considered #44 : The Utter Magic of kDNA
by Elio — Kinetoplast DNAs (kDNA) are the most startlingly complex and unexpected DNA structures anywhere. Superlatives do not suffice, as you will see. kDNAs are found only in the kinetoplasts of flagellates, structures involved in chromosome segregation, which is probably the reason why they may not be as well known... Read more →
Celebrating Woese – Forty Years and Entirely New Views of the Microbial World
by Roberto and Elio — Exactly forty years ago to the day (as we sit down to write this post on November 3, 2017) the front page of the New York Times displayed a large photograph of Carl Woese followed by a full length article describing his discovery that "living systems represent one of three aboriginal lines of descent." The press coverage in this and... Read more →
Of Terms in Biology: FRET
by Christoph — FRET is the commonly used acronym for "Förster resonance energy transfer", which sounds just as awe-inspiring as it actually is. One has to dive deep into quantum mechanics and Jablonski diagrams to understand how 'non-radiative intermolecular dipole coupling' works. But fortunately, FRET can be explained in terms that not so physics-savvy microbiologists can... Read more →