Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #183

Can you think of any features of a viral genome that might allow you to tell if it is capable of causing a pandemic? Read more →

Interplanetary Biomining

by Elio | We are not short of evidence that microbes can survive in space for extensive times. A favored way to find out is to carry out often multinational studies by placing sample organisms on the surface of the International Space Station. Read more →

Microbiology for All Ages: More Small Friends Considered

by Daniel | The purpose of this blog is "to share our appreciation for the width and depth of the microbial activities on this planet." Isn’t it fantastic when that sense of microbiological wonder can also be shared with a child? Read more →

Unmasking an Ancient Scourge

by Ornob Alam | Nothing takes you back in time quite like DNA, not ancient documents, not cherished tales, not ageless chronicles. Anyone studying human history today must take stock of the remarkable information recorded in DNA. Major advances in DNA sequencing and its extraction from ancient bones and teeth now provide unprecedented windows into major events in human history... Read more →

On Old Age

by Elio | In a couple of months, my age will be divisible by 31 (no, I won't be 62 years old, nor 124). Does this level of senectitude give me permission to muse about having become an "old scientist?" What do you think?   Read more →

TWiM 233: Antivirals made by bacteria

Review of the movie Jezebel, played against the background of the yellow fever epidemic of 1853 in New Orleans, and prokaryotic viperins, ancestors of the eukaryotic enzymes that synthesize antiviral molecules. Read more →

Microbes Aren't Mooks: The Abiding Threat of Antibiotic Resistance

by Daniel | The phrase 'mook chivalry' might not be recognized by many of our readers, but the situation it describes will certainly be familiar: A hero faces a crowd of villains who are ready to attack. Read more →

The Wonders of Microbial Domestication

by Roberto | This morning, while running with the dogs, my mind drifted to thinking about how humans domesticated wolves, as far back as 20,000 years ago, to give rise to this remarkable mutualistic symbiosis. Read more →

TWiM 232: Microbial Nanowires

TWiM explores the use of a bacterial protein to make highly conductive microbial nanowires, and how modulin proteins seed the formation of amyloid, a key component of S. aureus biofilms. Read more →

Trans-Translation Part 2: Of Vibrios and Squids

by Janie | This New Year story begins with newly hatched baby bobtail squids. Each squid is translucent and barely the size of a grain of barley. As they swim around, the six pores on their heads ringed with mucus-coated cells snag passerby Vibrio fischeri from the water. Read more →